Mystery Dungeon: Time Crisis
by Terran34
Summary: It all begins when a young, timid Torchic finds an unconscious Totodile lying on the beach. Their friendship draws them into a massive conflict, where the stakes are high and time itself hangs in the balance. Complete Novelization of Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky. Rated M for language and excessive violence.
1. Wigglytuff's Guild

I can't believe I'm actually doing this. Look at me, a college male with three running stories already, and I'm about to add a fourth. For Pokémon. I'm surprised myself. Ok ok, so before I get started, I might as well tell the story.

Warning, if you're not one of my author alerts and you're new to my writing, then feel free to skip my author's note if you just want to get reading.

I actually wanted to write this story on a new account, because I was afraid that people would be like, wait, this guy writes dark bloody stories on Final Fantasy, Golden Sun, and Fairy Tail, and now he's writing Pokémon? What the fuck? But then I decided, screw that. I'll do what I want. Haters gonna hate.

I hit writers block on all three of my stories, so decided to spend my off time playing games. But I was bored with all of my games. That is, until I found my stash of old GBA and DS games that I haven't touched in forever. I found the Mystery Dungeon series, which I remember was really freaking awesome. So I plugged in Explorers of Darkness and gave it a replay. Which just reminded me of how amazing the game was. Great story, fun and addictive gameplay, and a decent challenge. Plus it has the typical anime attachment to abstract concepts, like friendship and the heart. Oh, and the music. Great music. It was happy when it needed to be, epic when it needed to be, and sad when the situation called for it. Some of the dungeon music was haunting and creepy at times, which I really enjoyed.

All right, now that I've finished praising the game, here are the reasons I decided to write a fanfiction for it. First, the game is amazing. Secondly, I did a search for Mystery Dungeon fanfics, and found very few of them, not counting the poorly written or shorter ones. I felt cheated. Thirdly, I want to relive the game in greater detail, as well as adding new details and changes here and there. I can already think of a few things that I'm going to change.

Right. Enough about that. Maybe I should actually get writing. I don't actually have a game script, but I do have a DS. I am actually playing Explorers of Sky at the same time that I'm writing, so that's where I get the script.

Disclaimer: Gotta have this stupid thing at the beginning of all my stories. I do not own Pokémon, nor is this story in any way profiting from the franchise. I do this for my own enjoyment, and that of the others around me.

* * *

Time. Contrary to the belief of most sentient creatures, time is not by any means a linear construct. In fact, it is comparable to an infinite tapestry, with countless threads intertwining and interacting with one another. Each and every one of the individual threads affects the others, yet are never aware of the existence of the others.

Or perhaps it is like a tree, starting at a single point. From there, it branches out into hundreds of different outcomes, and then into thousands, and then millions. The number grows beyond comprehensible levels until the sky is colored a dusty brown with the interlocking branches.

No matter its composition, time continues on, waiting for no one. It moves on endlessly, no matter how hard one attempts to hold on to it. The passage of time is the one constant among the uncertainty in the expansive universe.

One fateful day, however, something changed in the endless stream of time. It was subtle, a small disturbance in the time vortex, yet at the same time its very occurrence signified an event that had not happened since the beginning of time. Time itself was being traversed.

To the waking eye, time is not something that can be seen. Instead, it is felt. However, to the two individuals that were present in the time vortex, time was very visible indeed. To their eyes, a tunnel stretched out before them, composed of many interlocking threads of multicolored light. Visible through gaps in the threads were millions of parallel timelines flashing in and out of existence. In just a short moment, the two could see volcanic wastelands, sprawling deserts, and tropical islands spiraling into view.

"I like that one." At last, one of the individuals spoke. In the time vortex, the distinctly male voice echoed oddly, as if there was a surface for the sound waves to bounce off of. The one who spoke possessed a humanoid figure. His body was well built, defined muscles bulging in his arms and legs, evidence of the many hours he spent training every day. Silky brown hair sprouted from his scalp and cascaded down the sides of his head. Every so often, rogue strands would fall in front of his hazel eyes, and he would brush them away with his slender fingers. "And, it's gone. Shame," the man added.

"Those islands?" the other figure asked curiously. This individual was not human by any means. Instead, it sported a smaller figure that was slightly reminiscent of a lizard, with a hint of avian influence present in the structure of his feet and claws. His voice was rough and guttural, as his vocal cords were structured differently from those of humans.

"Yeah. Do you think that Pokémon will live in a place like that someday?" the human replied, his tone turning wistful. The creature next to the human, who was a Pokémon itself, sighed.

"I hope so," was all the Pokémon could bring himself to say. The two went silent after that. They knew what they had to do, and talking about it would not change anything.

They proceeded in silence for an indeterminate period after that, as one could not simply measure the passage of time while time itself was being traversed. In the time it took one of them to say one sentence, millions of years could have passed.

"What is that up there?" the Pokémon suddenly said in a worried tone, pointing ahead along the strangely constructed tunnel of time with one of its talons. The human looked to see a strange fluctuation in the time vortex ahead of them. The multicolored threads of light that made up the tunnel were twisting and roiling, as if something had disturbed time itself.

"I'd say turbulence, but I don't think something like that could exist in time. How would that even work?" the human asked. Before his partner could answer, they had reached the fluctuation. Both of the time travelers suddenly found it hard to keep their footing. It wasn't that they were unbalanced, but it was as if their spatial awareness was being affected. At first it was subtle, as they began to feel that they were viewing the tunnel from an angle. Over a period of time, however, the effects escalated rapidly.

"What the hell is even going on?!" the human screamed as he was wrenched from his feet. He was floating in the air above the tunnel's floor, and he felt himself growing further away from the Pokémon. "Help!" the human cried.

The Pokémon, despite the fluctuation's effect on himself, lunged forward and grabbed on to the human's wrist, his talons wrapping around the limb and latching on tightly. However, as the pull grew stronger, he found that his grip was slowly slipping. "I think our very presence in the stream of time may actually be effecting the vortex of time itself!" the Pokémon shouted.

The two suddenly became aware of the sounds of rushing water, and the booming sound of thunder. They found that strange, because they were in the time vortex, and such things did not exist here. With horror, they realized that the fluctuation might actually throw them out of the vortex into an unspecified time.

"Don't you let go of me!" the human roared. The Pokémon's grip slipped further. He was afraid of trying to adjust his grip, for fearing of losing it altogether. "Help, I'm slipping!"

"I can't…I can't hold on!" the Pokémon screeched over the sound of the thunder. The pull grew even more intense, pulling the partners in opposite directions. The Pokémon's grip slipped and the human flew backwards, but with a last minute lunge, he managed to grab on to the human once more. However, even that slipped.

"I'm gonna fall! Oh God!" was the last thing the human said before the Pokémon lost his grip entirely, and the two were pulled in separate directions. Screaming and yelling, the two completely lost sight of one another, and were lost to one another. The human was less scared for his own life, and more for the survival of his best friend and partner.

"Grovyle!" he roared, and then his body struck something hard. He saw stars, and then he fell into unconsciousness.

When he next woke, he was lying on something soft. He groaned in pain. He tried to move, but found himself too weak to do so. His head felt fuzzy, and he couldn't quite remember what he was doing. He opened his eyes, and managed to catch a glimpse of a sandy beach and sparkling waters before he once again lost himself to the darkness.

* * *

Elsewhere, a very different tale was unfolding. A giant cliff rose above the sea, waves crashing constantly into its base, filling the air with spray. As the sun set into the horizon and darkness filled the air, the lights emanating from the cliffside became more evident. Several holes in the cliffside were set with panes of glass, from which light steadily streamed. However, the most prominent sources of light were the two large torches standing at the very top of the cliff.

At the top of the cliff was a very odd building. It was not built from wood and plaster like usual buildings, but was instead a particularly large tent topped with the image of a Pokémon. The two torches burned brightly on either side of the tent, the sound of the flames filling the air. On the ground a few feet from the gated entrance of the tent was a wooden grate set into the ground above a large hole that descended into the depths of the cliff. On either side of the whole were situated two totem poles carved into the shapes of various Pokémon.

Standing in front of the whole complex stood a lone female Pokémon. The torchic, for that was her species, shyly shifted from one talon to another. She regarded the tent warily, trying to decide whether it was worth the risk to approach it.

"Hmm," she mused, and then began to pace in front of the grate, but never once making the mistake of standing on it. She clacked her beak nervously, beads of sweat appearing on her crimson head.

Suddenly, she stopped, and then faced the tent directly. She grew determined, her eyes narrowing. "No. I refuse to be paralyzed by this any longer!" the Torchic whispered to herself. She took a few tentative steps towards the grate. "Come on, Blaze, you can do this."

"Okay, here we go," Blaze said with a sigh, and then she stepped onto the grate. Immediately, a voice sounded from below. The Torchic froze and shuddered in shock.

"Pokémon detected!" the voice yelled. Blaze began to tremble, her heart pounding in her chest. Adrenaline surged through her body, and she almost ran away right then.

"Who is it?!" roared an even louder voice from below. The fear and nervousness steadily increased in Blaze's mind.

"The footprint is torchic's!" the first voice replied to the second. That was it for Blaze.

"Ah!" she cried, stepping backwards off the grate and holding a wing to her heart. She could literally feel it thudding rapidly in her chest. "It's too scary!"

Blaze backed away even further, and then she let herself slump down. She waited until she was relaxed again, and then she sighed. A forlorn look crossed her face, and then she sat with her back to the tent.

"I just can't do it," she lamented. Tears squeezed out of her eyes, which she wiped away with her wing. "I just don't have the courage. I thought that this would be the day, but…"

Blaze reached into the small blue pack located on her back with her wing and withdrew a small flat rock, inscribed with an otherworldly pattern. She gazed at it wistfully. She had thought that holding onto it this time would inspire her enough to go inside that tent, but it just hadn't been enough.

She sighed again and replaced the rock in her pack before standing up. She turned to leave. "There's just no helping a coward like me," she sighed. Blaze slowly walked away from the tent and down a the stairs that would lead back down the cliff.

After she had left, two other Pokémon revealed themselves from their hiding places behind some bushes. One of them was spherical in shape and levitating in the air, releasing noxious gases steadily from its pores. The other was a bat that hovered in the air by flapping its wings incredibly fast. Both of them wore amused smirks from what they had just seen.

"Zubat…did you see that? That was fucking hilarious," the spherical Pokémon addressed the other with a nudge and a chuckle.

"God, Koffing, wimps like that shouldn't even exist," Zubat chuckled to herself, flying in circles around Koffing. "But that's not what was really important. Did you see what that chick had?"

"I did. It looked nice to me. Think we could sell it for a good amount?" Koffing replied, an evil grin crossing its homely face. Zubat thought about that for a moment, now flying in a figure eight.

"I don't know, I might want to keep it. It looked pretty to me," she remarked. "But we can figure that out once we have it."

"I like the way you think, Zubat. Come on, let's nab that thing and get out of here." Koffing commented. Zubat cackled gleefully, and then the two Pokémon soared through the air after Blaze, making sure to keep themselves hidden.

* * *

The beach was Blaze's favorite place to be, no matter the circumstances. After failing the goal that she had set for herself, it was the first place she went to.

Blaze strode across the sand, leaving little imprints in the sand behind her wherever she stepped. She looked out at the ocean wistfully, wondering not for the first time if anything rested out beyond the horizon.

A bubble floated through the air in front of her, flying over the water into the distance. She followed it with her eyes, a small smile forming on her face as she realized what was going to happen.

Pokémon emerged from the hollows in the rocky cliffs around the beach. They were all krabby and kingler. As Blaze knew, they always came out in the evening to blow bubbles whenever the weather was nice. They began to do so, soon filling the air with glistening bubbles that caught the light of the setting sun and bent it into a multitude of beautiful colors.

"How pretty…" Blaze said to herself. She then lapsed back into silence. She always came here when she was feeling down, and after her failure earlier, that was exactly how she was feeling. However, the sight before her served to cheer her up slightly. It made her feel good to stand here on the soft sand, the waves lapping at her talons, gazing at the bubbles floating lazily through the air.

Blaze turned, trying to spot some of the krabby so she could watch them blow bubbles. After taking a few steps, she noticed something odd.

As this was a rocky beach surrounded by cliffs, there were often boulders and small rocks littering the sand at irregular intervals. Blaze had been here so often that she had memorized where each rock was, which is why she found it odd that there was another rock here that had not been here the day before. Its mere presence on her beloved beach made her curious as to its nature.

"That wasn't here before. How strange," she observed. Blaze decided to check it out, so she walked along the beach until she could get a better look at it. However, she stopped dead in her tracks when she realized what it was.

It wasn't a rock. Instead, Blaze saw a Pokémon collapsed on the sand at the waterline, the waves lapping at its skin, threatening to drag it back out to sea. "Ah! Are you all right?!" Blaze broke into a run, her usual nervousness absent when someone was hurt. She reached the fallen Pokémon and knelt down beside it, noting that it was of the totodile species. It was a particularly fine specimen; it was larger than normal, possessed defined muscles in its arms and legs, and had jaws that looked like they could bite clear through a tree trunk.

At the sound of her concerned words, the totodile stirred weakly, a soft grunt emanating from its jaws. Blaze gasped as the Pokémon forced itself to its feet, despite the presence of several large bruises on its body. She retrieved a bottle of ointment distilled from Oran berries from her bag. "You're awake! Please, let me treat those wounds."

The totodile remained still long enough for Blaze to apply the ointment to his injuries, but he refused to look at her. "I'm fine." He grunted, his voice deep and husky. Blaze found that she rather liked the sound. Immediately after he spoke, the Pokémon wrinkled his brow in confusion.

"Oh, thank goodness. You weren't moving at all, so I was starting to get worried," Blaze fussed, stepping back so that the totodile could have some space. The Pokémon turned around, taking in his surroundings. It was clear by his expression that he had no idea where he was. Blaze grew curious, so she decided to try and learn more about him.

"Do you remember how you ended up unconscious out here?" she asked curiously. At that, the totodile adopted a confused expression. That soon gave way to a thoughtful one. However, he did not answer Blaze's question, instead appearing deep in thought. Blaze figured that he must be one of those strong, silent types. That wasn't going to stop her from talking to him, though. "Well, I'm Blaze. Glad to meet you!"

When the totodile still didn't answer, Blaze pressed on. "Who are you? I don't think I've seen you around before." She was sure that if she posed a direct question, he wouldn't just ignore her. Suddenly, the other Pokémon gazed at her as if seeing her for the first time.

"Aren't you a bit large for a torchic?" he asked bluntly. Blaze reeled back, offended. She glanced down at herself, confused. She didn't think she was that large…

"Excuse me? I'll have you know I go on daily runs around town!" she snapped back, though she did blush under his increased attention. The totodile looked surprised at her outburst, but then just shook his head.

"That's not what I meant. I mean, you're as large as me, and I'm human. That's saying something." He corrected his statement. Blaze blinked, not believe what she had just heard. When his words sunk in, she jumped and flapped her wings in shock.

"What?! You're a human?! You look like a totally normal totodile to me!" the torchic pointed out. Now the totodile seemed startled. He looked over his body, his eyes widened as he took in his own features. Suddenly, the other Pokémon began shaking, gazing in shock at his own claws.

"What the hell!?" the Pokémon exclaimed rather loudly. He rushed to a nearby tide pool, gazing into the water's smooth surface to observe his own reflection. He laughed nervously upon confirming his new appearance. "Heh…this is a dream, right?"

"You're…a little odd…" Blaze observed. She didn't know what to make of the Pokémon in front of her. On one hand, humans didn't exist anywhere on this continent, so it would be impossible for one to be here. On the other, the totodile seemed to be genuinely shocked at his own appearance. "Are you pulling some kind of trick on me?"

"What? No! I don't lie. To imply that I do is insulting," the totodile snapped back. Blaze shrunk away at the tone of his voice, apologizing weakly. He seemed infuriated. Blaze decided not to question him any more on that subject. It didn't matter whether he was a human or a Pokémon. What mattered was what he looked like now.

"All right then. Will you tell me your name?" she asked timidly. This time, she received a quick answer.

"Of course. My name is Hector. A pleasure," the totodile answered politely, and then went back to gazing at his claws, flexing the muscles there as if he were trying them out for the first time. Blaze nodded happily.

"Okay. Well, I don't know about you being human, but you don't seem to be a bad Pokémon, at least." She replied. Hector grunted and turned his head, probably offended that he was suspected in the first place. Blaze caught on to that and quickly said, "Sorry for doubting you. It's just that more and more bad Pokémon have been showing up recently. Can't be too careful."

Blaze saw Hector's expression soften from that, and he nodded understandingly. She was about to ask another question when she noticed the totodile's eyes widening. Before she could ask why, something struck her hard in the back of the head. Blaze cried out in pain, and then saw her world turn upside down as she hurtled through the air before colliding with the wall of a nearby cliff. Along the way, her bag came unfastened form her back and hit the sand near Hector.

She hit the ground painfully, and slowly stood up to see two Pokémon standing not far away from Hector. She recognized one as a koffing, and the other as a zubat. Hector was eyeing them warily, as if trying to ascertain whether or not they were a threat to him.

"Well, I do beg your pardon," Koffing sneered at her. Blaze knew immediately that they meant her ill will. Her throat warmed up as she conjured up fire, but she didn't really want to hurt them.

"Hey! Why did you do that?!" Blaze cried, pressing her wings to the back of her head. She flinched as Zubat flew in circles really close to her, chuckling, which revealed her four sharp fangs.

"Can't you tell? We wanted to mess with you. Can't face up to us, can you?" Zubat taunted, and then zoomed down and slashed at Blaze's shoulder. The Pokémon was not seriously trying to hurt her, as the zubat could have easily sliced her to pieces with her superior speed. Instead, the Pokémon's claws skidded across Blaze's skin, leaving a painful red mark behind, but not drawing blood. Blaze yelped and pressed a wing to it.

"Wh…what?!" Blaze emitted pathetically. She couldn't understand why these Pokémon would want to hurt her. She looked to Hector to help, but the totodile was doing nothing but watching.

While Zubat was tormenting Blaze, Koffing floated over to Hector, curiosity planted on its face. "Don't see many totodile around here. Are you with that shrimp over there?"

"Leave me out of this. If you continue to pester me, I won't be held responsible for what I'll do to you," was Hector's rather violent sounding reply. Koffing seemed to recoil a bit, but then he composed himself and laughed derisively.

"Hah, as if you could do anything. You're both just a bunch of shrimps. Come on, Zubat. Let's get what we came for." The floating sphere shot back. Zubat shrieked with laughter and then began circling the fallen bag on the ground. Blaze noticed her bag over there and gasped, suddenly realizing what they were doing.

"No! Please, don't! That's my…" Blaze cried desperately, trying to rush forward to grab it. However, Koffing rammed her head on, knocking her back. Blaze nursed her head where she had been hit, and helplessly watched as Zubat grabbed the bag.

"Sorry, we'll be taking this." Koffing snarled. Zubat hovered in one place, holding the bag tantalizingly over Blaze's head, just out of her reach.

"What's the matter? Not going to try and get it back?" Zubat asked. "Or are you too scared?"

Blaze flushed red with embarrassment and shame, and she fell to her knees, looking up at her bag. Inside was her most prized possession, about to be taken from her.

"God, what a fucking coward. Let's go, Zubat." Koffing ordered, floating around Blaze. Zubat followed, and then the two disappeared into a hollow in the cliff nearby.

At last, Blaze was left alone with Hector. She began to cry helplessly. She wanted nothing more than to go after them and make them pay, but there was a little niggling voice in her head that was telling her that she wouldn't be strong enough even if she did go. It seemed hopeless to her.

"What should I do? That was my personal treasure. It means everything to me," Blaze sobbed, cradling her head in her wings. "If I lose that…"

There was an internal war within Blaze between her belief that she just wasn't strong enough, and the vision of a future where she didn't have her treasure to inspire her. It was the only thing that she could truly call her own.

As she was deliberating what to do, she suddenly felt the presence of someone near her. Blaze looked up, blinking the tears out of her eyes, and then she saw Hector standing tall next to her. He looked down at her and then at the hollow in the cliff side.

"Come on. They need to pay," Hector told her, offering her a claw. Blaze grabbed it gratefully, smiling a little as she hopped to her feet.

"Really? You'll help me?" she asked, almost afraid to believe it herself. When Hector nodded, she squealed happily. "Come on then. Let's go quickly."

With that, Hector led Blaze into the hollow.

* * *

The hollow in the cliff opened up into a cave a further in. The floor was composed of tightly packed wet sand. The air was damp and humid. Blaze found the atmosphere heavy and oppressive, and more often than not she found herself staying close to Hector. His confident silence and powerful appearance did wonders for her peace of mind.

"Be careful. There may be bad Pokémon in here," Blaze warned him. Hector did not reply. That didn't bother Blaze, as long as he listened. She had never fought another Pokémon before, but she did know how to fight a little with fire. She was glad Hector hadn't been bad, because she knew she wouldn't have stood a chance against a water-type like him.

As they progressed through the cave, the two ran into several obstacles. The first were the pools of stagnant water that dotted the ground. Hector could have crossed them easily, but Blaze couldn't. Therefore, Hector chose to move around them so that Blaze wouldn't have to be alone. Blaze noted with some happiness that he was starting to care whether or not she was safe.

When the two reached a somewhat larger cavern, an odd clanking sound echoed through the room. Hector immediately turned to face the source of the sound, while Blaze squeaked and hid behind him.

A kabuto launched itself out of a pool of stagnant water, its shell facing them in preparation for a ramming attack. Hector attempted to stop it, but Blaze saw him move his limbs oddly, as if he'd never used them in combat before.

The kabuto rammed into Hector, knocking the Totodile back into the wall. Hector grunted somewhat, but it didn't seem like he was hurt that much.

"Dammit…I'm not used to this body," Hector muttered to himself. Blaze heard him. She found it odd that he wasn't used to his own body, but then remembered that Hector believed that he had been human.

Believing its prey helpless, the kabuto rammed Hector again and again, seemingly beating the Pokémon down. Blaze wanted to help him in some way, but before she could, Hector made his counter attack.

Hector leapt up and executed a roundhouse kick, his foot colliding with the Kabuto. Although clumsily done, the attack was enough to knock the Pokémon backwards, its shell cracking around the point of impact. The kabuto retreated swiftly into the darkness to nurse its wounds.

"Thanks. You're really tough," Blaze thanked her companion. Hector nodded tersely in reponse, and then he looked at his claws again.

"I'm not going any further until I can move my body the way I want to," Hector asserted. Before Blaze could answer, Hector started a series of exercises, stretching his arms and legs. Then, he began shadow boxing, punching and kicking at nothingness. His motions started off clumsy, but after a few minutes of this routine, they swiftly grew smoother and more precise, until Hector looked like he had been fighting for a long time.

"That's better. Strength is useless if one doesn't know how to use it. Come on, Blaze," Hector affirmed, and then the two moved deeper into the cave.

* * *

Blaze knew that the cavern wasn't that deep, because she had been here before the bad Pokémon had started to move in. Therefore, it didn't take that long for the two of them to reach the deepest portion of the cave.

Here, the ground became sandy again. Up ahead, there was an opening in the wall. Through that opening, Blaze could see the ocean surging in.

At the waterline were the two who had stolen her personal treasure. The bag was hanging from a rocky outcropping near them. Koffing and Zubat were looking at the ocean, so that their backs were facing them. They hadn't noticed Blaze and Hector's presence.

"Uh…hey!" Blaze tried to get their attention. Hector hissed at her in warning, but it was already too late. Koffing and Zubat turned around in surprise. However, their surprised looks soon turned to sneers when they saw who had hailed them.

"Well, Zubat, I think you owe me that fifty Poké. The oversized chicken showed up after all." Koffing addressed his partner. Zubat scowled, and handed the money to Koffing with bad grace.

"Oh come on…seriously? Couldn't you have just run away?" Zubat complained, more to herself than to Blaze.

"Uh…give me…give me back what you stole from me!" Blaze forced herself to say, despite her nervousness. For some reason, the presence of Hector standing near her gave her some solace. This kept her from running away and crying like she usually did. "It's my personal treasure! It means everything to me!"

"Hey Koffing! She called it treasure!" Zubat pointed out, once again circling her partner.

"Oho! She did, didn't she? I guess it's valuable after all. It could be worth more than we hoped for, Zubat."

"We'd probably get a really good price for it!" the Zubat replied, speaking loud enough for Blaze to hear her.

"Whaaat?!" Blaze shrieked. "You'd sell my personal treasure? If you do that…I'll never forgive you!"

Koffing and Zubat did not look intimidated in the least. Instead, they adopted a menacing posture, and they advanced threateningly towards the two.

"If you want it back so badly…" Koffing began, gasses expelling from its pores.

"Then try and take it!" Zubat finished for her partner. Then the two of them charged at Blaze directly.

Everything happened too fast for Blaze to react. She saw the two of them coming, but wasn't fast enough to retaliate. She covered herself with her wings and hoped that it wouldn't hurt too much.

It was over in less than a minute. One moment, Blaze was watching them coming, and then Hector was there in front of her. She stood up and watched in awe as he fought the two bad Pokémon.

Koffing led the charge, zooming through the air in an attempt to use his body as a living ram. However, Hector reached out with one arm and caught the Pokémon on his claw, completely halting his progress.

"Wha…?" was all Koffing could get out before Hector slammed his head into the Pokémon, repelling him.

Zubat was a little less straightforward. Instead of charging straight in, she flapped around in midair, trying to choose the opportune moment to attack. When Hector was dealing with Koffing's counterattack, she zoomed around behind him and charged at his unprotected back, claws outstretched.

Hector pushed Koffing back and then planted a vicious kick on him, sending the spherical Pokémon hurtling into the ocean with a splash. Then, in the nick of time, the Totodile whirled around and opened his jaws. A jet of water erupted forth, colliding with Zubat and bringing her to the ground. Before the Pokémon could take to the air again, Hector landed atop her, slamming his foot on her wing. Zubat screeched in pain as a crack sounded from her wing. She looked up to see Hector's open jaws. She screamed once, and then a high pressure stream of water collided with her face and knocked her out cold.

"Zubat!" Koffing cried, getting out of the water and zooming for her. Hector didn't let him reach her. The Totodile leapt into the air and body slammed Koffing to the ground, causing the Pokémon to deflate. All it took was a few lightning fast punches before Koffing was on the sand, panting heavily.

"It's…it's over," Blaze breathed, awestruck. Hector was incredibly strong. The two bullies hadn't even stood a chance against him. Zubat was out cold on the ground, and Koffing was only just hovering.

"Shit…we got roughed up," Koffing groaned. Then, he hovered over to Zubat and nudged her until she was resting atop his body. "Take your damn bag. But don't think you're so awesome! This was a fluke!"

The two bullies fled in disgrace, leaving the bag where it was. Blaze hopped over to it and grabbed it from its perch. A happy smile crossed her face, and she clutched it to her breast.

"Oh, thank God. I actually did managed to get my Relic Fragment back," she whispered. Then she looked over at Hector, who was watching her patiently, waiting. "But it's all thanks to you, Hector. I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you so much!"

"Whatever. Just as long as you're happy," Hector responded, his cheeks turning a little pink. Blaze chuckled at that. Apparently he wasn't used to being thanked.

* * *

Once the two were back outside of the cave, Blaze decided to show Hector what the two bullies had stolen in the first place. She placed the flat rock on the sand in front of him, watching him look at it curiously.

"This is a Relic Fragment. Or…at least that's what I started calling it." Blaze told him. "It's…my personal treasure."

"You see, I've always liked legends and lore," Blaze explained, turning to face the horizon. Hector sat down beside her and appeared to be listening, so she took that as permission to continue. "I always get so excited when I hear tales from the past! Don't you feel the same way?"

"I suppose so," Hector replied politely. Blaze continued talking excitedly, happy that she had someone willing to listen to her.

"Hidden troves full of treasure and strange relics, or uncharted territories veiled in darkness...or new lands just waiting to be discovered!" Blaze looked at Hector, her eyes shining with happiness and excitement. "And history! Wouldn't it be exciting to make historic discoveries? It's what I dream about…"

"And then I came across my Relic Fragment. It looks like a rock at first glance, but look!" Blaze continued, turning back to the flat rock, pointing her wing at it. Hector did so, and then noticed the inscription on it for the first time. "See that pattern?"

"You're right. I've never seen a pattern like this," Hector replied, picking up the rock to take a closer look. Inscribed in white upon the rock was a strange circular pattern, marked with odd wing-like projections. "Do you know what it is?"

"No, but I think there must be some significance to this pattern. It must be some type of key to a legendary place! At least, that's the feeling I get." Blaze responded. Hector gazed at the inscription for a moment longer, and then he handed it back to her. She took it gratefully and replaced it back into her bag. "That's why I want to join an exploration team. This fragment has to fit into something…somewhere! I want to explore until I can someday find out where that is."

"An exploration team?" Hector repeated, clearly confused. Blaze nodded. She realized that she was talking a lot, but Hector appeared to be genuinely interested in what she was saying, so she didn't stop.

"Yeah. I earlier tried joining as an apprentice, but…" Blaze deflated slightly, remembering how pathetic she had been up at the top of the cliff. "I couldn't do it."

Blaze turned her head awkwardly, not wanting to see the no doubt scornful look on Hector's face. After a few seconds, she looked back to see an understanding expression there instead.

"What about you, Hector? What are you going to do now?" she asked curiously. He had never really said anything about who he was or why he had been unconscious on the beach, so she found herself curious. Hector sighed.

"I don't know. I can't remember anything since waking up. Well, except for my name and the fact that I was a human once," he replied. Blaze cocked her head. She still didn't fully believe that he was a human turned Pokémon, but she could believe that he had amnesia. Suddenly an idea formed in her head, and she smiled brightly.

"So you lost your memory, and you believe you transformed into a Pokémon. Do you have anywhere to go and stay after this?" she asked. She hoped he'd say no, so she could ask her next question.

"Unfortunately, I don't. I'll probably spend tonight in that cave over there when it starts getting dark," was Hector's response.

"Then, can I ask a huge favor?" Blaze asked hopefully. Hector tilted his head to one side, his expression turning curious. She took a breath, and then asked, "Would you be willing to form an exploration team with me?"

"Wha…?! Me?!" Hector exclaimed, clearly taken off guard by her proposal. Blaze turned her head, blushing furiously. "Why me?"

"I'm convinced that I could form an effective exploration team with you, Hector. Please? Will you?" Blaze asked again. Hector stammered something unintelligible, still shocked.

"Uh…um…I don't know…I…this is rather sudden…" the totodile continued to stumble over his words. Blaze found it rather cute. She hopped closer to him, putting on an innocent smile.

"All right. I guess it wouldn't hurt," Hector finally said. "Yes, I'll join you."

"Yes?! Really?!" Blaze exclaimed, hardly believing her ears. When she saw Hector nod, she started hopping in happiness. "Yes! Thank you! We're going to be a great combination! Let's make this work!"

"Yeah…sounds fun…" Hector stammered again, turning the other direction. Blaze walked past him, towards the stairs that would lead back to the crossroads.

"First, we'll need to go to Wigglytuff's place and sign up as apprentices," Blaze explained. Hector's response was humorous.

"What the fuck is a wigglytuff?!"

Blaze couldn't contain her laughter at Hector's coarse response to Wigglytuff's name. She laughed heartily, turning back to see Hector's utterly perplexed face. This just made her laugh even more.

"It's the name of the guy who runs the place where we can train to become a first-rate exploration team," Blaze explained. Hector seemed to accept that, though she could hear him muttering, "Wigglytuff…seriously…" under his breath incredulously.

"I'm sure the training will be tough, but let's give it our best, okay?" Blaze said to Hector as they walked up the stairs.

* * *

Before long, Blaze had led Hector to the very same spot that she had been pacing in front of only an hour ago. Just ahead was the tent fashioned in the shape of the Pokémon wigglytuff, as well as the grate that had scared her so badly. Even now it looked ominous and forbidding, but this time she had Hector with her. For some reason, with him standing so close, she felt very brave.

"This is Wigglytuff's guild. In order to form an exploration team, you have to register here. Then you have to train until they deem you a full fledged exploration team!" Blaze explained.

"Interesting. So I'm guessing that pink thing is supposed to be a wigglytuff?" Hector pointed out. Blaze nodded, chuckling at the expression on his face. He seemed reluctant to accept that someone called Wigglytuff could be in control of anything.

"All right," Blaze finally said. Then she took a deep breath in, before letting it out slowly. Hector noticed her doing so, but said nothing. "Okay…I can do this…yikes…"

"What's the matter?" Hector asked. Blaze looked at him, and then back at the guild.

"This place…is a little scary…" she admitted sadly.

"With a name like Wigglytuff I don't blame you for being scared," Hector joked. Blaze smiled, and then finally formed her resolve.

"No…I'm not going to run this time. I have Hector with me this time. I need to be brave…" Blaze attempted to reassure herself. Then, at last, she stepped onto the grate.

"Pokémon detected!" the familiar voice sounded from below. As always, it caused Blaze to jump in shock, adrenaline surging through her body. She immediately wanted to back away, but she forced herself not to.

"Who is it?!" the other, louder voice shouted.

"The footprint is torchic's!" The first voice replied. Blaze squeaked, beginning to sweat.

"Have to be strong, stay strong, Blaze," she repeated to herself. Finally, after a period of silence, the second voice spoke up.

"If there is anyone else with you, have them stand on the grate," the voice called. Blaze all too quickly obliged, hopping off the grate and standing to the side, smiling happily. She did it. She finally managed to do it without running. She was particularly pleased with herself, and showed it by starting to preen herself.

"I guess that means me. Here goes," Hector affirmed. The totodile hopped on the grate and stood there.

"Pokémon detected!" Hector adopted a bored look. Blaze chuckled upon seeing him.

"Who is it?!"

"The footprint is…the footprint is…um…" the first voice seemed to be having trouble identifying Hector. The totodile allowed his face to rest in his claws, sighing as he did so.

"What's the matter? Sentry? Sentry Diglett!" the second voice shouted. The voice seemed to be growing irritated.

"Um…err…the footprint is…maybe totodile's!" Diglett called back to the second voice, which was less than pleased by that answer.

"What?! MAYBE?!"

"But…it's not a footprint that you typically see around here," Diglett pleaded with the second voice.

"That's just bullshit. You're supposed to be our sentry! You had ONE JOB!"

"Yes, but I don't know what I don't know!"

Up top, Hector and Blaze had adopted incredulous expressions on their faces. They metaphorically sweatdropped, wondering how much longer this was going to go on.

"Seriously? They're arguing?" Hector growled, earning a chuckle from Blaze. The torchic shrugged.

"Well, I guess I can't blame them. You are the first totodile I've seen in these parts for a long time." She reasoned.

"I shouldn't even be a damn totodile…but I see your point." Hector grumbled. Blaze raised an eyebrow. How long was he going to go on about how he used to be human?

"Sorry to make you wait!" the second voice called, this time addressing the two of them. Hector and Blaze grew quiet and listened. "It's true that you don't see any Totodile around here, but you don't _seem_ to be bad, so I'm going to let you enter."

With that, the metal gate that barred entry to the guild shuddered open. Blaze jumped at the sudden movement and she ducked her head, feeling foolish.

"I'm so nervous!" she defended herself, even though all Hector had done was give her a cursory glance. "But I'm glad we're allowed in. My heart is pounding, though. Okay, let's go in."

Blaze walked inside the tent, followed closely by Hector. Once inside, she took a quick look around. The tent was as large as it seemed. Which is to say…not at all. It was very cramped inside, with a few boxes around the edges. However, the one thing that did stand out was the large hole in the center of the room that led all the way down into the cliff's depths. There was a ladder made of bamboo lashed together protruding from the hole. It was clear that the majority of the guild was below ground.

"Let's go, Hector!" Blaze urged. She began climbing down the ladder, gripping the rungs with her beak and talons. Hector was not far behind her.

Once at the bottom, Blaze looked around to see a massive room, filled with other Pokémon. "Wow!" She looked at all the Pokémon, trying to identify their species. She could see a wurmple and a swellow talking to one another nearby, a pidgey and a seedot standing together, and even a bidoof and a sunflora looking at a bulletin board on the wall. "So this is Wigglytuff's guild. So many Pokémon! I wonder if they're all on exploration teams?"

"Excuse me!" another, high pitched voice chirped. Hector and Blaze turned to see a bird Pokémon poke its head out of another hole next to the ladder leading up. It hopped up and walked over to them, taking in their appearances. "It was you two that just came in, right?"

"Y…yes!" Blaze stammered, while Hector took a metaphorical back seat and let her do the talking. The bird nodded.

"I'm Chatot! I'm the Pokémon in the know around here, and guildmaster Wigglytuff's right-hand Pokémon!" the bird introduced itself. Then, before Blaze could say anything else, Chatot started talking again. "Now shoo! Leave the premises! We have no time for salespeople or silly surveys!"

Blaze was shocked into silence. She felt hurt that the bird automatically assumed she was not there to join, but instead to pester them. She guessed that she just didn't look the part. She tried to reply, tell Chatot their real purpose for being there, but Hector beat her to it, surprisingly. The totodile stepped forward, meeting Chatot's gaze. Blaze looked, seeing a dangerous glint in Hector's eyes. Chatot clearly saw it too, for the bird backed up ever so slightly.

"You are mistaken, Chatot. We are here to form an exploration team. Please ask first before making assumptions," Hector said calmly. Chatot grew flustered, flapping his wings and hopping once.

"Wh-what?! An exploration team?!" Chatot repeated in surprise. Hector nodded firmly. The bird turned around and muttered something to himself. Hector didn't like what little he could hear, so he cleared his throat impatiently.

"Um…excuse me? Is the training really that hard?" Blaze asked timidly. She had heard the bird's muttering as well. Chatot jumped at that, and turned around with an unexpectedly happy smile on his face.

"What? No, no, that's not true in the slightest! Our training program is as easy as can be!" the bird quickly attempted to assure her. Blaze wasn't convinced, but she could see that Chatot was trying to keep them there. "I'd wish you'd told me you wanted to join up front!"

"That was a quick change in attitude," Blaze remarked quietly to Hector, earning a harsh laugh from the Totodile.

"All right, let's get your team signed up. Follow me, then!" Chatot sang, and then turned and started hopping towards the other hole in the ground. Blaze shrugged and followed him. She noticed that the other Pokémon in the room were gazing at her and Hector curiously, and she flushed under their stares.

Chatot led them down another long ladder to yet another chamber, only this one was much more extensive. Blaze could see several passages branching off from the main chamber. "This is the guild's second underground floor, where the apprentices mainly work," Chatot explained. Blaze and Hector looked around excitedly. "Team registration is this way, if you'll follow me a bit further."

Chatot hadn't led them far when Blaze noticed a window. She was so surprised to see one, that she dashed over to it and peered out over the ocean, her beak open in shock. "Oh wow! We're two floors underground, but we can still see outside!" Blaze cried. Her outburst seemed to have irritated Chatot, as the bird hopped twice, his brow wrinkling.

"Oh please, hush now! The guild is built into the side of the cliff, so it's only natural that you would be able to see outside!" the bird explained irritably. Blaze immediately felt stupid, and she found herself wishing that she hadn't been so hasty. She hung her head and walked back over to Hector, who was eyeing her with an amused look.

"This is guildmaster Wigglytuff's chamber," Chatot pointed at the large wooden door next to the window. Upon its polished surface was engraved a pattern that looked like a red candle flame. "On no account…I repeat, on no account should you be discourteous to our guildmaster."

Blaze's excitement returned as she watched Chatot announce their presence to the guildmaster, before at last pushing open the glossy wooden doors. The bird ushered them inside with his wings.

The room was roughly rectangular, with rounded corners. There were two windows on the back wall, with a yellow and orange tapestry depicting a Wigglytuff pinned to the wall between them. Chests of gems and baubles lined the walls, which had Blaze gaping in awe. The room had a simple feel to it, but it seemed homey.

The guildmaster himself was sitting on a red carpet, facing away from them. Blaze shuddered in anticipation as Chatot tried to get the Pokémon's attention.

"Guildmaster, I present to you two Pokémon who wish to join our guild as apprentices," the bird announced. There was no reply from the guildmaster, or even a movement that would indicate an acknowledgement. Hector and Blaze looked at one another, perplexed.

"Guildmaster…um….hello?" Chatot repeated. More silence. Chatot was about to go up and nudge the Pokémon when the guildmaster whirled around with no warning, causing everyone in the room to jump in surprise.

"Hiya!" the guildmaster greeted them in a childish sounding voice. Blaze glanced over at Hector, and saw the most perfect WTF expression on his face. For the guildmaster looked just like the Pokémon depicted on the tent above ground, and on the tapestry behind him. "I'm Wigglytuff! I'm the guildmaster! You want to form an exploration team?"

"Yes, guildmaster," Blaze squeaked, finding her voice. To be honest, she found the guildmaster a little odd. What was with him ignoring them for a few good seconds before greeting them? Or the fact that he communicated like a child?

"Then let's go for it! First, we need to register your team name," Wigglytuff declared. Blaze suddenly realized that she hadn't thought that far ahead.

"Oh! Our team name? Um…" Blaze knew that she would probably take forever trying to think of a name, so she looked over at Hector. "Hector, what do you think would be a good team name for us?"

Hector appeared to think hard for a few seconds, before lighting up. "How about Phoenix? I believe it would suit us, as you are a fire-type bird, and I'm going to help you rise from nothing." Blaze was shocked for a moment at those words, and then she blushed deeply, making her glad that her cheeks were naturally reddish. That was…oddly sweet of him to say, and very thoughtful. She liked it instantly.

"Phoenix…Team Phoenix! That's a good name!" Blaze repeated, and then turned back to Wigglytuff, who was already writing it down.

"That's settled then. I'll register you as Team Phoenix. Hang on…" Wigglytuff said, and then began to repeat the word "registering" to himself in a sing-song voice. Finally, he threw his arms up in the air and said, "YOOM…TAH!" A bright light flashed through the room, but it was gone in less than half a second. Blaze was completely clueless as to what that gesture meant or what it did, but she wasn't able to dwell on it before Wigglytuff was speaking again.

"Congratulations! From now on, you are an official exploration team! I'll present this to you in commemoration…once I find it." Wigglytuff then retreated to the back of the room, where a small desk was situated. The Pokémon began rummaging underneath it for a few seconds, while Blaze and Hector watched with raised eyebrows. "Aha! Here!" Wigglytuff placed a large yellowish box on the floor in front of them. "It's an exploration team starter's kit! Go on, open it!"

Blaze walked up to the box, undid the latch, and then opened the lid. She could see three distinct objects inside. The first was a small badge that was in the shape of a white circle with wings, and a pink orb in the center. The second was a rolled up Wonder Map, which is what Pokémon used to find their way around the world. Lastly, there was a bag much larger than the one that was holding her Relic Fragment. Blaze smiled, realizing that now she could hold lots of items with her.

"Look, Hector! There's some great items in here!" Blaze ushered over her only friend, who peered inside cautiously.

"What you need to know about is that badge. It's your team's official identification as an exploration team. Once a Pokémon sees that badge, they'll give you the recognition that your team deserves!" Wigglytuff explained.

"Thank you! I'll be sure to use these responsibly!" Blaze thanked the guildmaster. Hector was now peering inside the large bag as she and Wigglytuff finished their conversation.

"Yup. But as you're only apprenticing as of now, you will do your best…to train!"

"Oh, we will! We always will! Right Hector?" Blaze answered excitedly, and then turned to her friend. Hector jumped when he was addressed.

"Yeah…we'll do that. Right." Hector stuttered.

After that, the guildmaster turned back around to face the other wall, and Chatot was ushering them back out of the room and into the main chamber, though they made sure to take their new items.

"This way please. There's one last thing I must show you," the bird said. Blaze followed him eagerly, turning left into a corridor. Eventually, the corridor split into several different, smaller chambers. Chatot took them to the room that was farthest away from the main chamber. Inside the room were two piles of hay, which indicated that this room was used for sleeping. But that meant…they were going to live here? Blaze didn't know how she felt about that, but she did know that if she wanted to train, she would need to accept it if that was indeed the case.

"This is your room," Chatot explained, confirming Blaze's thoughts. She shrugged and walked over to the first bed, while Hector took the second. "You will live here while you work for us. Things will start getting busy for you tomorrow, so rise early and start living by our code! That is all."

At last, Hector and Blaze were left alone in the room as Chatot left them. Blaze sighed and laid back on the bed, spreading her wings. It was comfortable, and it wasn't hard to imagine that this room might soon begin to feel like home.

"Oh, Hector. My heart's been racing all day over every little thing," She confessed to her friend, who was sitting down now. "But I'm glad I made myself come here. I thought Wigglytuff would be scary, but he's actually pretty friendly."

"Oh he's scary alright. Just not in the usual way," Hector remarked, earning a chuckle from Blaze. "Still can't believe I've never heard of one before. You'd think I'd remember such a strange looking Pokémon. Then again, you'd think I'd remember who my mother was too, but I guess my life isn't that clear cut."

Blaze turned her head to look at Hector, who was grinning wryly to himself at his own self-deprecating joke. She felt a little sorry for him. It must be tough, not being able to remember anything about himself. But she didn't want him dwelling on it, so she started talking again.

"We're going to experience all sorts of things tomorrow, but I'm not that scared now. In fact, I'm actually excited. Who knows what kinds of things we'll see, now that we're an exploration team?" Blaze continued.

"Yeah…" Hector replied sleepily. Blaze looked again to see that the Totodile was sprawled out on his stomach, his snout facing the window, from which moonlight was streaming in. She chuckled a little. He looked really cute like that. She actually felt a little sleepy herself, so she shuffled a bit until she was comfortable.

"I'm feeling sleepy too. Okay. Good night, Hector." Blaze told him, and then closed her eyes. It had been a long day, so it wasn't long before she fell into a deep sleep.

Hector remained awake next to her for a little bit, before he too, closed his eyes.

* * *

All right, I finished the first chapter but I'm not that happy with it. It was a little too close to the script, but I guess that's only to be expected this early in the game. Later on, when I can create my own jobs and outlaws, I think things will start to get more interesting. Also, this isn't like Golden Sun, where the script isn't really there until major story events, instead this is mostly script based. Therefore since I'm novelizing this, it looks like I'm going to have to keep the script there, but I'm going to do as much as I can to make this story mine. I think I'm going to spoil a few changes that I plan to make to the story…and by a few I mean one.

This no evolutions thing? Gone. I'm going to have the main characters evolve throughout the story, and they will be in their final forms when they take on Dialga at the end. I don't know about you, but writing about a Torchic with a big head and little arms is tougher than it sounds.

Why did I use Torchic for the partner? Because Blaziken. I don't even need to give a better reason than that. Because mother fucking Blaziken is a boss. Same goes for Totodile. While Feraligatr isn't as awesome as Blaziken…he's still pretty badass.

Also, I hope I get some good reviews for this, despite the slow start. I think Pokémon is more popular than Golden Sun, so who knows. But if you're new to my writing, then you should know I respond to reviews very quickly if they have questions in them, and shoutouts are a given.

Keelah Se'lai,

The Proud Quarian,

Terran34


	2. Blaze's First Job

All right, I can't believe I'm starting another chapter of the same story on the same day. Maybe in this chapter I'll get to do some original stuff with my characters.

God I love this game. It's on my list of universes that if I was given the chance to become a part of, I'd do it in a snap. It's right next to Mass Effect and Fairy Tail. Those of you on my author's alert who are like, why the hell did this guy write a fanfiction for Mystery Dungeon? Um, the question you should be asking is, why hasn't he written one before now? This series is seriously the shit.

Okay, enough ranting about how awesome this game is. I can't tell if I'm trying to promote this game or just buying time to listen to Bohemian Rhapsody before I start playing Explorers of Sky. Or both. Whatever. I'm not funny. XD

* * *

The moon slowly sunk below the horizon, only to be replaced by the first rays of the sun. The light reflected off of the waves of the endless sea, resulting in a beautiful sight that the residents of Treasure Town could look down upon in their early hours.

That same light filtered in through the lone window of the room where Blaze and her new friend Hector slept. Even though the light fell upon their sleeping faces, the two Pokémon did not stir.

From the hallway to which their room was attached, the sound of another Pokémon grumbling could be heard. "It's always me waking the damn newbies up when it's clearly THEIR fault for being so late I just oughta … HEY!" the Pokémon screamed incredibly loudly after reaching Blaze and Hector's room.

Blaze twitched, but didn't rise. It wasn't until the new arrival stomped over to them and leaned directly over them and screamed. "RISE AND SHINE!"

The suddenness and volume of the Pokémon's yell caused Blaze's eyes to shoot open. She jumped practically a foot into the air. Her head was pounding from so much auditory input, and as such she didn't even know where she was. What a ridiculously loud noise! It hurt her ears so much, she thought her eardrums were going to burst.

"WHY ARE YOU STILL LYING THERE! WAKE THE HELL UP!" the intruding Pokémon yelled again.

"My poor ears…" Blaze mumbled, her wings pressed to her ears. However, she didn't want another dose of the Pokémon's ridiculously loud voice, so she hopped to her feet, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. Beside her, Hector was doing the same, though she could see a vein twitching in his forehead.

"The name's Loudred! I'm a fellow apprentice" the Pokémon introduced himself, in a slightly quieter voice, though it was still loud enough to hurt her ears. Blaze shook herself fully awake, and then she politely extended a wing to Loudred.

"Hello, Loudred. My name is Blaze, and this is Hector. It's nice to meet you!" she replied. Loudred grumbled again, but took the wing with his thick blue hand, and then released it just as quickly.

"Yes, yes, but that's not the point. If you're late for our morning briefing, you'll be SORRY! SO MOVE IT!" The force behind Loudred's yell was so great, that Blaze found herself skidding backwards. She would have fallen over, but Hector caught her. "I'm not ABOUT to get in trouble just because some ROOKIES GOT UP LATE! SO STOP LYING ABOUT AND GET IT IN GEAR!"

At that, Loudred finally left the room. Blaze turned around to face Hector. She put on such a pitiful face that Hector chuckled a little bit. "Owww…my ears are still ringing. What did he say again? I couldn't hear him because I was trying to keep my ears in one piece."

"Don't you remember? We're a part of Wigglytuff's guild now, so I'm guessing he was here to make sure we reported to the main chamber on time." Hector reminded her. Now that her memory was spurred, yesterday's events returned to her in a flash. She remembered being bullied by Koffing and Zubat, and then remembered them being beaten into a bloody pulp by the Totodile standing near her. Best of all, she remembered joining Wigglytuff's guild as an exploration team after a long time of uncertainty. But that meant…

"Waaah! We totally overslept! Crap crap crap!" Blaze squealed, and then ran out of the room along the long hallway. Behind her, Hector laughed a bit and then hurried after her, though he made sure to take his time.

"Rookies! YOU'RE LATE!" Loudred's distinct voice could be heard from his position in the group of Pokémon that had gathered in the main chamber. Blaze looked around, noticing several new faces around, along with a few she had spotted on the way in. There was the bidoof and sunflora, who she had seen already, but the others she hadn't seen yet.

Chatot, who was standing at the front of the group of Pokémon, hopped twice irritably. "Hush, Loudred! Your voice is ridiculously loud!" he squawked in annoyance. Chastened, Loudred went silent. Blaze had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. Chatot had just given voice to her thoughts. She took her place in the group alongside a Diglett, which was probably the same one that had analyzed her footprint above the grate. Hector was not far behind her. He stood in front of her, his girth practically hiding her from view. Blaze poked her beak around him so that she could see Chatot.

"All right, everyone seems to be present. Let us commence our morning address," Chatot declared. Then, the bird looked at the guildmaster's chamber. As he did so, Hector turned around and gave Blaze an incredulous look, mouthing "our morning what?!" as he did so. Blaze chuckled quietly behind him. A morning address sounded fun to her, but for a silent type like Hector, it would probably be incredibly embarrassing.

"Guildmaster, the guild is in full attendance!" Chatot called. Soon after that, the glossy wooden doors opened, and Wigglytuff hobbled outside, stopping near Chatot. "If you would address the crew?"

Wigglytuff's only response was an odd sounding sigh. And then another. And then something that sounded like a snort. It was almost as if the guildmaster was…sleeping. Blaze scratched her head with her wing, and watched with amusement as Hector's face slowly fell into his claws.

"The guildmaster never ceases to amaze me," Blaze heard one of the other apprentices remark. She then heard another apprentice agree with the first one, laughing quietly.

"Looks like he's wide awake!"

"Eek! His eyes are wide open! But he's fast asleep!" Blaze laughed into her wing as she listened to the other apprentices remark on the antics of their slightly eccentric guildmaster. Chatot grew flustered, and tried to salvage the situation…through rapid improvisation.

"Thank you, sir! We all value your…words of wisdom." Chatot inserted. Then, when the bird decided that he liked that choice of words, he continued. "Okay, Pokémon! Take our guildmaster's words of wisdom to heart!"

"And now, we can't forget our morning cheers! All together now!" Chatot continued. As the bird finished talking, all of the other apprentices started to cheer loudly, their voices combining in a cacophony of noise, even as Blaze heard Hector yelling, "Our morning WHAT?!"

"ONE! DON'T SHIRK WORK!" the guild members cheered. Blaze smiled at that one, understanding that nothing could get accomplished without hard work. She also laughed as Hector buried his face in his claws, whispering, "just kill me now…"

"TWO! RUN AWAY AND PAY!" Blaze thought that one sounded rather intimidating, but she put it aside.

"THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!" The Pokémon finished, at last falling silent. Hector quickly composed himself so that he didn't look out of the ordinary. Blaze quickly committed the cheers to memory so that she could recite them along with everyone else the next morning.

"Okay, Pokémon! Get to work!" Chatot ordered. The guild members gave one last cheer before scattering in different directions, going to carry out various tasks whose natures were as of now unknown to Blaze. Hector turned slowly around, giving Blaze a hilarious flat-brow stare.

"Let's get something straight. You are standing in front of me tomorrow. Got it?" Hector told her firmly in a low voice. Blaze chuckled, and then returned a coy expression to the Totodile.

"Aww, what's the matter? Don't you want to cheer?" she joked, poking fun at his shy nature.

"FUCK NO!"

"But it looks like fun!

"Do I LOOK like a child?!"

"Actually, you look like a Totodile." Blaze reminded him.

"Goddammit, you're right!" Hector complained, hitting the floor as he remembered his predicament. Blaze was actually starting to accept that Hector believed he used to be a human. He wasn't showing any of the signs of a liar, so he clearly believed it was true.

"Hey, you two shouldn't just be wandering around there," Chatot finally took notice of them, hopping over to them. The bird noticed Hector on the floor and gave him an askance look. "Whatever are you doing on the floor, Hector? Get up, you undignified creature."

Hector did as he was told, grumbling something about pompous birdbrains. Chatot chose to ignore his words, and instead returned his attention to Blaze.

"You two come here." Chatot directed, and then hopped over to the ladder that led to the next floor. Blaze followed him eagerly, climbing up the ladder after the bird.

Upon reaching the next floor, Blaze could see some of the other apprentices gathered around the various bulletin boards adorning the walls at regular intervals. Chatot took them to the right side of the room from the ladder, and then all the way to the back corner. Pokémon did not surround the bulletin board at the very end of the room like the other boards. However, the bidoof was there, but he cleared away when he spotted Chatot coming.

"These are the job bulletin boards here. Pokémon from various regions post requests for help here." Chatot explained. Blaze looked, and sure enough, several slips of paper were pinned to the board, each inscribed with details important to the prospective exploration team that may be interested in taking the request.

"What kind of things do Pokémon request from exploration teams?" Blaze asked curiously. Chatot seemed to be delighted by the question.

"You are aware that bad Pokémon are cropping up in greater numbers recently, right?" Chatot began. Blaze nodded her head.

"Yup. It's because the flow of time is getting messed up, right? It's wreaking havoc." Blaze repeated what she had heard. Next to her, she heard Hector give a small gasp. She looked over at him to see that his eyes had gone wide.

"Precisely. Because of all of that, we have noticed an increase in the amount of job requests here at the guild. Also, perhaps because of time messing up, there's been a mass outbreak of mystery dungeons.

"Wait, what? The hell is a mystery dungeon? Sorry," Hector asked, and then quickly apologized when Chatot hissed at him for his coarse language.

"So Hector, remember yesterday when you helped me get my Relic Fragment back?" Blaze started to explain, as she knew a little about this subject. Chatot, who had opened his beak to say something, shut it with a clack and watched curiously to see how much she knew. Hector nodded. "The place where we found it was a mystery dungeon. They change layout without warning, although they won't change while you're in them."

"Well, you're quite informed. That makes things easier for me to explain!" Chatot commented happily. As he spoke, Hector looked pensive. Finally, he began to talk.

"Okay. I think I understand. Stop me if I'm wrong, but if we assume that this error with time is causing mystery dungeons, then here is a theory I have. Pretend that our current timeline is a straight line, with no interruptions. If that beach cave we were in was on this line, then it would be a single layout each time you enter, with no exceptions." Hector began. Blaze nodded and waited for him to continue, wondering what he was getting at. "So if time is getting messed up, then other timelines are entangling with our own. And if other timelines happened to intersect with ours in the location of that beach cave, then the different layouts would be because we are actually seeing another timeline, when time passed differently, and the erosion that created that cave would have progressed in a marginally different manner. Do you think that could be true?"

Hector looked up to see Blaze and Chatot looking at him with completely dumbfounded expressions on their faces. Blaze understood about the first few sentences, but then lost him when he started talking about entangled timelines.

"I…I have no idea what you just said. Maybe you're right, but that's too much for my head to handle," Blaze replied. Hector sighed in exasperation.

"Blaze is right. All we know is that time isn't flowing right, but the logistics are too complicated for any one Pokémon to understand. Though I am curious where that theory came from," Chatot pressed. Hector blinked, opened his jaws, and then shut them again.

"Honestly I have no idea. I just thought to connect mystery dungeons to time-related concepts, and there you go. I thought it made sense," Hector grumbled to himself. He looked so cute pouting to himself that Blaze giggled.

"Moving on, jobs mostly take place in mystery dungeons. So…to start you off, let's look for a job that you should be able to perform," Chatot launched back into her explanation. "First, I'll give you an explanation about job ranks. Jobs on this board are ranked 'E,' and are generally the easiest jobs to perform. Perfect for beginners like you two."

Chatot then pointed at the other boards that were lined up next to the E board along the same wall. "Those boards hold D, C, B, A, and S+ ranked jobs, respectively. As you progress in your training, you will eventually be able to take on the hardest of jobs on the S+ board!"

"S+!" Blaze gasped. "I can't even imagine how hard those jobs are!"

"Don't worry about those. Instead, let's start small. Here's a job that I think you two should be able to handle," Chatot brought their attention to a small slip of paper that the bird had just ripped off of the E board. He handed it to Blaze, who grasped it tenderly in her beak. She grabbed it with her wing and spread it out, reading it aloud so that Hector could hear.

"'Hello, my name is Spoink. An outlaw has run off with my most prized possession, my prized pearl! That pearl is life itself to me! I just can't seem to settle down if that pearl is not in it rightful position atop my head. However, the outlaw wiped out on a rocky bluff by some Lileep, dropping my pearl in the process. Now it is lost, and I cannot go and search for it myself, because the bluff is reported to be extremely unsafe. Oh friendly readers, would you be so kind as to go to the bluff and find my pearl?'" Blaze read, her spirits dropping as she read. Hector noticed her change in demeanor. "Wait a second! We're going to fetch an item that someone dropped?!"

"But of course! A simple job, perfect for you!" Chatot replied. Blaze clacked her beak irritably.

"I'd rather do a job that's more of an adventure. I'd rather look for treasure or explore unknown places. Things like that," Blaze asserted. Chatot did his signature double hop of irritation, flapping his wings.

"Hush!" Chatot squawked. Blaze squeaked, cowed. "It's important that you rookies pay your dues! If you can't even handle the simplest of jobs, then you have no business taking on the more interesting jobs!"

"As much as I hate to say it, he has a point," Hector pointed out. Blaze pouted, but she did understand.

"Good. Now if you understand, I suggest you get on with the job! Time in the day is limited!" Chatot demanded. Blaze sighed, looking at Hector.

"The sooner we start, the sooner we can get back and do more interesting jobs. Come on, Blaze," Hector decreed. Blaze nodded and followed her partner out of the guild.

* * *

The bluff, which was actually known by the populace as the Drenched Bluff, turned out to be pretty far from Treasure Town. Thankfully, Chatot had provided them with several assorted red and blue gummis. Then, the bird had escorted them out of town and had marked the bluff's location on the Wonder Map.

With that much direction, it only took them until midday to reach the bluff. The large cliff was situated on a small peninsula that jutted out into the ocean, and thus the cliff face hung directly over the sea water.

At last, Blaze spotted the entrance to the bluff. It was a small hole in the side of the cliff. As she looked, she saw that the tunnel leading inside was actually fuzzy and hard to make out, as if there were hundreds of overlapping tunnels. That didn't make any sense to her, so she drew closer, followed by Hector. The closer she got to the entrance, the tunnel grew clearer and clearer, until she wondered why it had looked so weird from a distance in the first place.

"This must be the way into the bluff," Blaze observed. She looked at Hector. "Spoink's request said that the outlaw had wiped out deep inside, so I think we'll be in here for a while."

"He also mentioned that it was dangerous. Be on your guard at all times, and stay close to me," Hector ordered. Blaze nodded. He didn't have to tell her twice. She felt safer when she was next to him anyway.

They entered the bluff, darkness descending upon that instantly. Light filtered in through gaps in the stone, but it was only enough to light up certain areas. It prevented the cave from being completely dark, but did little more than that. Thankfully, Blaze could use fire to illuminate the passageway. She called up some fire from within her, and ignited a feather on the tip of her wing. As she had a great affinity for fire, the fire did not spread, nor did it singe her skin. It did light up the cave around her, revealing the dark gray stone and pools of stagnant water. In a way, the bluff was very similar to the beach cave.

Almost immediately after igniting the feather, a hostile Pokémon attacked them. From a hidden crevice in the rocky wall, an Anorith lunged out, its pincers outstretched and ready to cleave through flesh.

Blaze screamed and tried to slash at it with her claws, but she didn't get the chance to. The second it had appeared, Hector had noticed it. The Totodile swerved his body to the side, avoiding the Anorith, and then had clamped his powerful jaws down on the Pokémon's segmented body. The Anorith screeched in pain as Hector bit down, and began smashing the Pokémon's body into the walls repeatedly until the Pokémon no longer struggled. Hector growled, and then spat the creature aside. Its body splashed into a pool of stagnant water, scaring off the Pokémon that had been hiding in it.

"You're so strong…it's a little scary," Blaze squeaked. Hector grunted and turned to face her.

"What can I say? I don't hold back in combat," he replied, smiling now that the threat was gone. Blaze tilted her head to once side.

"Really? Why is that?" she asked as the two of them resumed progress down the winding tunnels. Hector went silent, as if thinking. Finally, the Totodile sighed.

"I think I had some deep-seated reason behind it, but I can't remember it. It's starting to get on my nerves. Something comes to me randomly, and then I try to make sense of it, but I can't," Hector growled, smashing his knuckles together. Then he noticed what he had done. "Like that! Why do that? You don't see normal totodile running around smashing their knuckles together."

"True, but then again, I've never seen another totodile in my life," Blaze pointed out.

"That's not what I meant."

"I know what you meant, and I know it must be hard. I'm sure everything will come back to you eventually," Blaze tried to reassure him. Hector grunted, and said nothing more.

Hector led her deep down into the earth, as the cave seemed to descend lower and lower, until she was sure they had gone below sea level. The sound of trickling of water was their constant companion during their trek, and large pools of water became a common sight.

Later, Blaze and Hector found themselves in a larger cavern. Three paths branched away from the room, but that wasn't important. What was important were the hostile Pokémon snarling at them. Two shellos and an anorith blocked their path forward.

"Stay calm," Hector whispered to Blaze "I can only take two at most. You're going to have to fight. Can you do that?"

Blaze looked at the hostile Pokémon. One of the shellos was eyeing her in a way that made her shudder. She tried to imagine a way to defeat it without killing it, but all she could think about was the Pokémon clamping its jaws on her fragile body. She shivered fearfully and thought about running, but then she looked up at Hector's calm face. _Get yourself together, Blaze_, Blaze thought to herself. If he could do it, then so could she.

"I…I think so," she whispered. Hector nodded slowly.

"Get ready. I'm going to charge them. When I do, that Shellos will probably circle around me and head for you. Do not use your fire attacks; they won't hurt it," Hector instructed her. He waited until he saw her nod. "NOW!"

Blaze cringed as she saw Hector let out a roar and charge at the hostile Pokémon, making the first move. He collided with the first Shellos, tearing it off of the ground with his claws and slamming it into the wall, running past the anorith in the process. The last shellos did as Hector had predicted, circling around the totodile and heading straight for Blaze.

The first shellos gurgled in Hector's grip, struggling to get free. Hector tore into it viciously with his jaws, until he felt it go limp in his claws. He dropped it and tried to turn, but he wasn't fast enough to prevent the anorith from lunging at his unprotected back. He felt its multiple legs digging into his sides, and he knew that it would attempt to bite down on his neck.

Hector threw himself to the ground, landing on his back. The anorith screeched as it was smashed between his body and the rocky ground. While it was stunned, Hector leapt to his feet and shot a high pressure stream of water from his jaws. Water, though usually docile, could become a lethal weapon when enough acceleration and pressure were applied to it. Thus, the stream of water did not course over it as normal water would have, but instead sliced right through it, gouging into the ground beneath its body. Clear ichor seeped from the wounds, and the anorith soon stopped struggling.

Blaze saw the shellos coming, and she locked up. She had never fought before. She didn't know what to do, this was too much too soon. This was nothing like her books. The shellos let out a hiss and lunged, leaving Blaze with less than a second to react. The torchic closed her eyes and lashed out with her feet. She felt her talons score, and then something warm and wet cascaded over her skin.

Opening her eyes, Blaze saw the shellos writhing on the ground with a deep gash on its body, inflicted by her claws.

"Good job. Now finish it," Hector advised her, walking over to her. Blaze looked up to see that Hector had defeated both of his opponents, their broken bodies lying on the ground. She then looked down at the injured Shellos. Its life was in her hands now. It was too much for her, and she stepped back. "What's the matter? It's a bad Pokémon right? It tried to kill you. Kill it, so that it can't hurt anyone ever again."

"I…I can't," Blaze managed to get out, and she looked away, unable to bear the sight of the hurt Shellos. She wanted to reach out and help it, not kill it. Hector sighed.

"Fine. I'll do it then." Hector snapped, and then slammed his foot down hard on the Shellos's neck, killing it instantly. Blaze gasped as she heard its dying cry. "Come on. Let's go get this damn pearl and get out of here."

After that, Blaze couldn't bring herself to speak to her companion. Hector was a good Pokémon, and she knew that, but in battle, it was like his personality changed completely. He cut down his opponents without mercy, without a second thought. She was actually starting to become afraid of Hector.

Half an hour passed, and there was no sign of the pearl. Blaze and Hector found themselves being attacked by every Pokémon they came across. Always, Hector would completely destroy his opponent and then execute it, until the blood of bad Pokémon covered his hands and jaws. He looked truly fearsome.

Finally, Hector noticed her silence. "What is it, Blaze? You haven't said anything for a while. It's not like you." He asked, concerned. Blaze looked at him timidly. She had no business being scared of him, as he had never tried to hurt her before, but she couldn't help it. So many Pokémon were dying at his claws, when Blaze felt that knocking them out cold would have sufficed.

"It's just…all of these Pokémon. Why do they have to die?" Blaze finally got around to saying. Hector stopped in place. He sat down on a rock, and motioned for her to do this same.

"This is a hard question to answer, and not everyone has an answer. Sit down, and I'll give you the answer that I have devised." He told her. Blaze did so, though she didn't think he could possibly tell her anything that could convince her that killing those Pokémon was righteous.

"First, I'll start off by telling you that a life is precious. Life is a glorious accident. It could have easily never happened, and the universe would have gone on as normal," Hector began. "There appear to be two types of Pokémon in this world. The first one laughs, cries, gets angry, and falls in love. They are remarkable, incredible creatures that never cease to amaze. Killing even one of these Pokémon is an unforgivable crime. If you noticed, I did not kill Koffing and Zubat, even though they were scum."

"I did notice that," Blaze replied, finding his insight remarkable. She found herself wanting to trust him, but she wasn't convinced just yet.

"The other type of Pokémon have none of those things. They are feral. They possess no emotions, and only feel need. The need to hunt, the need to kill, the need to find a mate. They are little more than animals. And as animals, they feel no remorse for the lives they take. Thus, they are dangerous to all sentient Pokémon they meet. Therefore, I feel no guilt in executing them. They have a right to live, just like anyone else, but I reason that if a Pokémon attacks me with no warning with the intent to kill, then it could also happen to another Pokémon less prepared, which would result in his or her death. That being said, it is a service to future Pokémon to eliminate those animals, so that no other Pokémon falls victim to them," Hector finally finished. Blaze was silent for a while, taking in his words. They made sense, in a twisted sort of way. She sighed.

"I think I understand. I don't like it, but I understand," Blaze responded. Hector nodded, and then stood. She did the same, watching the Totodile.

"Good. Then let's go. Also, one last thing. Blaze?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"If you ever start feeling unsure like that again, you tell me, okay?" Hector told her firmly. Blaze nodded, and with that, the two of them continued their foray into the Drenched Bluff.

Blaze felt a little better after he explained his motives to her. If anything, she felt a little closer, because Hector seemed like he cared about her feelings, even if he had a funny way of showing it.

Actually, it didn't matter how she thought of this. Thinking of death made her uncomfortable, so she put those thoughts out of her head and replaced them with ideas of how to be a better teammate to Hector.

Blaze nearly bumped into Hector when the totodile stopped suddenly in a small room. A Pokémon lunged out of the darkness from Hector's right, only for the totodile to bat him out of the air with a curled up fist. Blaze looked to see that the attacker had been another shellos. It was knocked out cold from the impact, as it had been charging at full speed.

"I'm starting to get a little hungry. Can you pass me one of those gummi things Chatot gave us?" Hector spoke up suddenly. Blaze nodded, using her wing to remove the bag from her back. She opened it with a talon, and then withdrew a small blue, bean-like object with her other talon from the bag. She tossed it to Hector, who grabbed it reflexively out of the air. "Never had one of these. Are they any good?"

"You've never had a gummi before?!" Blaze exclaimed. It was hard for her to accept that any Pokémon could have gone without eating a gummi at some point in their lives. She extracted another gummi from the bag, only this time it was red. She took a bite out of it, sighing as its tangy flavor filled her mouth.

"No. I told you, I used to be a human. Don't remember what I even ate as a human, but I'm sure gummis were not part of my diet," Hector replied, sounding rather annoyed at her surprise. Blaze picked up on that, and she mentally berated herself at being so inconsiderate.

"Well, just try it. It's an important part of any Pokémon's diet," she suggested. Hector eyed the gummi hesitantly, and then he popped it into his mouth. Blaze watched his expression intently, curious as to what he would think. Water-type Pokémon generally liked the blue gummis the best, which was why Chatot picked them out for him.

"It's sour," Hector commented, chewing the gummi slowly. Blaze tilted her head to one side, wondering if that was all he was going to say. The Totodile swallowed, and he made a series of rather amusing faces as he tried to figure out how he felt about it. Then he turned to her with a smile. "I like it. Got any more?"

Blaze nodded, handing him another. She was surprised he was eating another. Usually, eating just one gummi was enough to fill her up.

"All right, I think I'm good for now. Come on. The bottom of this thing can't be much further," Hector finally said after he finished eating the second gummi. Blaze nodded, and the two continued on their way.

* * *

Finally, after at least another half hour, the tunnel opened out into a large cavern that gradually sloped upwards. Blaze saw a freshwater spring spewing out water at the end of the room, along with two freshwater pools on either side of the room.

However, what really caught her attention were the several Pokémon that protruded from the pools, and blocked the way to the spring. They were of the lileep species, which meant that Hector's jets of cutting water were pretty much useless if they chose to prevent their passage.

Lileep were unique Pokémon, as they had very little mobility. They tended to use the suction cups on the bottom of their stalk-like body to cement themselves in one position and wait for prey to come to them. They were also special in that they could not be harmed by any water-type moves, as they merely absorbed them. What made that worse, was that the more water they absorbed, the stronger they would get.

"This seems like the bottom of the bluff," Hector observed, his voice causing the multitudes of lileep to orient in his direction. He noticed the movement and immediately adopted a defensive stance. "…and those are apparently hostile. Great."

"Be careful, those are lileep. They are immune to water!" Blaze warned him, noticing the totodile opening his jaws. Hector closed them again with a snap, looking annoyed.

"Even better. There goes a quick solution. What about fire? Would that do any better?" he questioned.

"I'm not sure. I've never actually had to fight one…" Blaze admitted, sighing.

"Give it a shot then," Hector requested. Blaze gulped and glanced at the nearest lileep. The Pokémon was not moving, instead gazing at her impassively from the dark space between its tentacles.

Her throat started to feel hot as she called up fire from within. Blaze opened her beak and propelled a blast of flame forth, aiming at the lileep. The fire collided with the Pokémon. It swayed around, but did not move from its spot. The impact left a sizable burn, but the lileep was still intact. Blaze clicked her beak.

"I guess that didn't work. What now Hector? If water and fire won't work, then…" she began, but then her eyes bugged out as Hector zoomed past her and tried to hit the damaged lileep with his claws. "No! Don't get too close, or…"

As the lileep he was targeting was still caught off guard from Blaze's ember attack, Hector was able to land his attack, leaving a shallow gash in the Pokémon's side. Then, he grabbed the stalk and bit down on it with his powerful jaws. However, that was the wrong thing to do. When his teeth met on the stalk, there was a painful sounding crack, and then Hector backed off, howling in pain.

"What the hell is that thing made of? Rock?!" the Totodile screeched, holding his mouth gingerly. The Lileep counter-attacked by swinging its tentacles around its eyes at Hector, but thankfully he was still aware enough to dodge.

"Actually, yes. lileep is partly rock-type…" Blaze pointed out, giggling slightly at the irony of her friend's words. Hector adopted a flat browed look, staring at the offending lileep in exasperation.

"It looks like we're going to need a plan if we're going to get past them. We don't have the kind of moves to beat them easily," Hector asserted. Blaze nodded, and the two retreated in the tunnel to plot in relative secrecy. She wasn't aware if the lileep could understand their words, but she wasn't willing to take the chance.

"So if we can't use water, and fire doesn't work as well as we want…" Hector trailed off. Blaze realized that he was asking for her input without actually giving it voice, so she tried to fill in the blanks.

"Physical attacks don't work as well either. I think ice works well, but can you use ice yet?" Blaze asked. Hector cocked his head, and then shook it.

"I don't think so. Supposedly, totodile like me should be able to learn how, but that knowledge doesn't really help. I think we'll have to accept that we can't defeat all of these lileep," Hector mused. Blaze nodded, looking back out in the clearing. The lileep were gazing after them, looking deceptively innocent.

"If I remember correctly, the outlaw with Spoink's pearl was wiped out by lileep. Now, I think these are the lileep that did it, meaning the pearl can't be far away. Probably past that line of lileep in front of the fountain," Hector continued. "Which means that we need to defeat at least one lileep in order to complete the job."

"Do you think I could be a distraction? Use my fire to keep them off you somehow?" Blaze suggested. Hector lit up at that idea, and he looked back at the lileep.

"That's a good idea. Your fire works better than my water, anyhow. Perhaps if you hit that Lileep," hector began, pointing at the Lileep just in front of the spring. "I'll be able to take it out with repeated physical attacks. It'll be tough, but as long as you keep spitting fire on the other lileep, I should be fine."

"You'll need to be fast. I can't keep that up forever," Blaze warned him. Hector nodded grimly.

"I know. Now, let's do this. On my signal," the totodile replied. Blaze followed him back out into the clearing. The lileep turned to follow them, ready to intercept any further assault.

Without warning, Hector charged forward towards the lileep that he had pointed out earlier. The Pokémon saw him coming and extended its tentacles, waving them threateningly. Just before Hector reached it, he ducked down and yelled, "NOW!" Blaze heard him and sent another wave of fire over the totodile's head. The attack collided with the lileep, causing it to shrink back.

Hector was there a second later, using both claws to tear into the creature's tough hide. He was doing damage, but the other lileep around him were moving to defend their companion. Blaze saw that and spat more fire, acting as makeshift artillery. Every time the other Pokémon tried to attack Hector, she would blast it with flame.

Hector opened his jaws and spat a pressurized stream of water, but not at the lileep. Instead, he used it to carve out the rock underneath the lileep, so that the Pokémon did not have stable ground to stand upon. As such, when the lileep felt itself tumbling down, it disconnected from the rock and tried to move elsewhere, but that was what Hector had been waiting for.

"Aha! Take this!" the totodile cried, grabbing the Pokémon by the stalk. Then, he began repeatedly smashing it against the ground over and over, until the Pokémon no longer struggled.

"Hector…hurry! I can't…do this much longer!" Blaze yelled weakly. Her blasts of fire were getting weaker and weaker each time she emitted one, and soon the other lileep would assault the totodile.

Hector nodded and rushed through the opening left by the defeated lileep. He disappeared from Blaze's sight for a few seconds, but soon came back through the very same opening, holding something in his claws.

Once he was away from the lileep, Blaze stopped firing. She felt drained, and she fell to her knees to try and catch her breath. Using that much power caused her to feel hungry, but she could deal with that later.

"Are you all right?" Hector asked when he reached her. Blaze looked up to see the totodile looking at her with a concerned expression. Clutched in his claws was a pink, glimmering orb. Blaze was sure it was their objective.

"Yeah. Just a little tired, is all. I'm not used to using that much fire at once," Blaze admitted. She had been behind on her practice recently, which she now deeply regretted. Perhaps if she had been practicing regularly, she could have taken out one of the lileep herself. Then she remembered something. "That was a really clever use of your water gun!"

"You liked that? I just remembered how it sliced into the ground earlier, so I thought it would work here," Hector grinned at her praised. He glanced at the remains of the lileep that he had defeated.

"It worked very well. You think that's Spoink's pearl?" Blaze pointed at the orb in Hector's claws. The totodile glanced down at it.

"I sure hope it is. Because if I have come back here, I'm bringing a damn dewgong!" Hector vowed. Blaze giggled. She'd never seen a dewgong before, but she knew that they were ice-based.

"Let's get out of here. Chatot and Spoink will be waiting," Blaze affirmed. Hector nodded, and then the two began retracing their steps out of the bluff.

* * *

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Spoink exclaimed excitedly, bouncing up and down on its spring-like tail. The pearl Hector and Blaze had spent so much time retrieving rested on its head, between its ears.

It had been evening by the time the two returned to Wigglytuff's guild. Just after entering, Chatot had met them. After the bird confirmed their completion of the job, he had sent for Spoink, who had been staying in Treasure Town until his request had been carried out.

The Pokémon had been in bad shape, its small body covered in bruises. Blaze had wanted to treat him, but once Spoink got his pearl back, he was too ecstatic to hear her anxious words.

"I missed my pearl so much! Without it there, I can't bounce properly. You see, without that weight on my head, I bounce much higher than I should, and it becomes much harder to control where I land. That's why I'm covered in all of these bruises," Spoink explained.

"Are you sure you don't want to get those treated?" Blaze asked for the umpteenth time. Spoink shook his small head.

"No, no, you see? I'm fine! Now that my pearl is back on its head where it belongs, I'll just settle down again! Thanks to you, my nightmare is over!" Spoink repeated. Blaze wasn't convinced, but she didn't press the issue. It was his choice, after all. However, the torchic did get slightly amused from seeing Hector's flat-browed expression. "Oh, I'm almost forgot! The reward!"

Spoink came forward and handed a bag of Poké to Blaze, who nearly dropped in shock after feeling how heavy it was. "2000 Poké! Enjoy!"

"Wow! 2000 Poké?! All of this money is for us?!" Blaze couldn't believe her good-fortune. Just like that, she and Hector were rich!

"But of course! 2000 Poké is nothing compared to the value of my precious pearl. Take it, and be merry!" Spoink replied happily, a goofy smile stamped on his small face. Blaze's expression soon mirrored Spoink's. She turned to Hector.

"Look Hector! We're rich! Just like that! I could afford half a year's worth of apples with this!" Blaze exclaimed. Spoink thanked them one more time, and then took his leave, bouncing up the ladder that led out of the guild. Chatot, who had been watching the exchange with a satisfied smile on his face, now hopped up to them.

"Very good, you two! My congratulations on a job well done. Now hand that money over, if you please," the bird requested. Blaze nearly dropped the back in shock; Hector's jaw dropped.

"What?!" Hector and Blaze screamed at the same time. Chatot didn't seem perturbed by their surprise, instead just holding out his talon.

"Most of the money from the jobs goes towards the guild's upkeep, you see," Chatot began explaining. "Without this money, we couldn't afford to keep running the guild, and we would be forced to shut down. Surely you understand."

Blaze sadly nodded, but Hector just looked pissed. The totodile threateningly took a step forward.

"I don't think so! We worked for this money! I spilled blood, for this money! I'm not going to let you just take all of this!" Hector snapped. Chatot looked taken aback, but Blaze pecked at Hector's claws, getting his attention.

"Hector, it's all right. Chatot has a point. I don't like it, but we're going to have to deal," the torchic assured Hector. The totodile hissed quietly, but backed down. Blaze handed the bag of money to Chatot, who took it readily, giving Hector a wary look.

"Thank you, Blaze. Although most of this money goes to the guild, you do get to keep a share of your earnings. About ten percent, I believe," Chatot attempted to reassure them. Blaze perked up. Ten percent of two thousand wasn't that much, but it would be enough for two days worth of meals. She took the two hundred Poké from Chatot and stored it in her bag. She was going to deposit it in the bank as soon as she could.

"Only two hundred? Still not nearly enough for the danger we faced," Hector grumbled. Chatot hopped twice, irritated.

"That's the guild's rule, Hector! You simply have to accept it," the bird snapped at him. Hector nodded once, but continued to mumble under his breath something about injustice and pompous birdbrains. "Now, the two of you should get ready for bed. You don't want to be late for morning address again."

With that, Blaze and Hector were dismissed. Blaze looked over at the totodile worriedly. She knew he was upset, so she resolved to talk to him later once they were in the room.

As they walked towards the dorms, a voice called from the opposite side of the chamber. "Everyone! Thanks for waiting! Dinner is ready!" Blaze turned to see a chimeco calling to everyone on the apprentice level.

"ALL RIGHT!" screamed a very familiar voice. Blaze's hurting ears told her exactly who it was. Loudred ran over to the chimeco, followed by Diglett and a croagunk, who was laughing in a deranged way.

"Oh, dinner is provided? That makes me like this place a little more," Hector remarked. Blaze laughed, and she followed the other apprentices into a different corridor, that led to the dining room.

Dinner consisted of apples and gummis, along with a few roasted seeds that Blaze could not recognize. It was all delicious to her, so she chowed down with a passion. She had been left very hungry from the job at the Drenched Bluff, so this was glorious to her.

The other apprentices at the table eating with them were now familiar to her, even if she hadn't spoken with them personally. For example, the sunflora and bidoof she had seen earlier were there, along with Loudred, Diglett, and the croagunk. A corphish was there too. Chatot and even the guildmaster were there as well, though all Wigglytuff ate were uncommonly shiny red apples that were larger than normal ones. Blaze was curious what they tasted like, but she refrained from asking.

After dinner, the other apprentices expressed their wish to sleep, and everyone was dismissed for the day. Blaze and Hector left the room and headed for their room. However, they were stopped by some of the other apprentices.

"Hey, hey, hey! You're the new additions to the guild, right? I'm Corphish!" the corphish addressed them on the way out of the dining hall. The Sunflora was there as well, smiling in a friendly manner. Blaze greeted them with a smile as well, while Hector just awkwardly stood behind her, clearly not used to social situations.

"And I'm Sunflora! Eek, like…oh my gosh! You two are sooo adorable," the sunflora spoke next in a clearly female voice. Hector's expression turned flat-browed for a moment, but he soon composed himself.

"Thanks! It's nice to meet you, Corphish and Sunflora! I'm Blaze, and this is Hector," Blaze responded happily. Then she nudged Hector with a wing discreetly and hissed so that only he could hear. "Say hello, Hector."

"Right. Um, hi," Hector stuttered. There was a pause as Blaze shook Corphish's extended pincer, and Sunflora's leafy limb. Hector did the same, albeit a bit more awkwardly.

"Hey, we just wanted to welcome you to the guild personally, you know? Help you feel a little more at home," Corphish continued. Blaze decided she liked them. It was really considerate of them to make this gesture.

Sunflora suddenly gasped dramatically, drawing attention to herself. "Oh…my gosh. I just thought of…like, the most brilliant idea. Why don't you two come exploring with us sometime? It would be like, sooo much fun!" she exclaimed. Blaze thought that over, and decided that this sounded good. If Sunflora and Corphish had been there, the lileep probably wouldn't have given them much trouble.

"That's a really generous offer, Sunflora! Maybe we'll take you up on that when we have some free time!" Blaze answered excitedly.

"Eek! Oh, I can't wait!" Sunflora responded almost instantly, hopping up and down. Hector's flat-browed expression returned, but Blaze ignored it.

"Hey, just let us know. Good night now!" With that, Sunflora and Corphish bade them good night, and disappeared into their rooms. Humming happily, Blaze led Hector into their room and hopped down on her bed, letting out a contented sigh.

Hector laid down on his bed with a growl, clearly unhappy about something. Blaze decided that now would be a good time to defuse whatever anger he was hiding.

"Listen, Hector," Blaze started, getting the Totodile's attention. "Today was really hectic. So much happened, and it's only our first day!"

"True," Hector replied simply. Blaze ignored the fact that he seemed not to care, and continued to talk cheerfully.

"I'm so relieved our first job went well. Sure, it was a let-down how the guild took most of our money, but I guess we can consider that payment for the training they're giving us," Blaze talked, hoping that her words were getting through to him. Hector was watching her attentively now, which was better than him staring at the ceiling.

"Though, my favorite part of the day had to be getting thanked by Spoink. Nothing makes me happier than seeing another Pokémon happy, especially if I had a hand in that happiness. Don't you agree?"

"That's very noble of you, Blaze. I guess I can agree with that. Sure, Spoink was a little strange, but I guess that doesn't matter," Hector finally replied. "It's still not right for us to get only ten percent of our earnings. After all we went through."

"Maybe, but there's nothing we can do about it. We'll just have to save up the money we get from these jobs. Then we can buy some of those more powerful augmenting items and orbs!" she replied.

"Augmenting items? Orbs? What?" was Hector's confused response. Blaze decided to explain to him.

"Pokémon can be strong on their own, but everyone wants to be a little stronger. That's what augmenting items for. Your physical strength is incredible, but imagine how awesome it would be if you wore a power band!" Blaze began. Hector blinked.

"Okay, now I'm interested. What's a power band, and how would it make me stronger?" Now that she had his full attention, Blaze continued.

"A power band is a type of augmenting item created by a skilled psychic-type Pokémon. By wearing it, an invisible psychic shell surrounds your fists and feet, so that whenever you attack, your limbs are propelled forward at a faster speed, and can take the increased punishment from the increased impact. Do you understand?" Blaze explained. Hector looked at her, and then looked at his claws.

"I want one of those. How much are they usually?" Hector asked with an excited glint in his eyes. Blaze sighed.

"They're really expensive."

"How much are we talking?"

"Probably around two thousand Poké."

"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding. The exact amount we earned from Spoink? Chatot probably knew that!" Hector growled.

"Chatot is pretty strict, sure, but I don't think he would deliberately hinder us. I legitimately think that money is going to be used to help the guild grow," Blaze explained to Hector once more, trying to drive the point home.

"I know, I know. I'm just complaining," Hector replied, grinning. Blaze sighed a little in relief, which soon turned into a yawn when she realized just how tired she was.

"Oh wow, I guess the job took a lot more out of me than I thought. I'm wiped out," Blaze expressed. She laid back on the hay and looked up at the window, the moonlight streaming in and landing just between them. Hector shifted in his bed and yawned as well.

"Even though it was me doing all the fighting?" Hector teased her. Blaze wrinkled her brow.

"What's that supposed to mean? Who was it who made sure you didn't get pummeled by lileep tentacles?" she countered, though a smile was on her face.

"Eh, details," Hector quipped, turning over and shutting his eyes. "Good night, Blaze."

"Good night Hector. Let's do our best tomorrow," Blaze replied sleepily, her eyes closing as well. She couldn't keep herself awake, and soon fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

I don't know why, but I found it really hard to meet my minimum of 9000 words on this chapter. I thought describing the Drenched Bluff would take longer, but I guess not. Anyhow, time to discuss changes I made from the original.

Firstly, I made a lot of changes from the script because I think the first chapter stuck too much to it. So I fluctuated what they were saying so that Hector could get a chance to show his personality.

Also, and yes this needs its own paragraph, the alternate timeline theory. I was so fucking proud of myself for coming up with that. I have now explained how mystery dungeons work! Because I said it, it must be canon! And that's not even my joke. Sigh. But seriously, the alternate timeline theory is difficult to wrap your head around, but I think it made relative sense. But not to Blaze or Chatot.

Also, I believe memory loss works differently, so instead of having Hector reconstruct his entire personality, I had him keep most of it. He's a little more happy go lucky than he used to be, because he lacks the knowledge that the world is ending. But that's why he keeps saying things without knowing where they came from. It's like waking up from a dream and saying something nonsensical that makes sense to you, but then two seconds later you've forgotten the dream and are like…why the fuck did I just say that?

**DarkAngelTorchic:** This is one of my beta reader, and even though we've already discussed this chapter, I thought I'd leave a shout-out to show how much I appreciate your continued edits.

**Farla:** Hooray for random readers deciding to help me edit! I did take your edits into consideration, and if you look at the first chapter, you'll notice I've applied your suggestions. Except for when you told me to skip the storyline stuff. I think you missed the fact that I'm writing a novelization. So the storyline stuff is the story.

**masonman94:** This is one of my other friends. His review was short, but thank you for not being lazy and reading it anyway.

Keelah Se'lai,

The Proud Quarian,

Terran34


	3. The Scream

All right, I'm back with another chapter. I apologize that everything took so long. In case you aren't reading my other stories, I'll jus say that real life hit me hard with a combination of college work and girl problems. So I haven't really felt motivated enough to write.

So this one I hope to get into the next part of the canon. However, I will be changing many things starting from here on. Things are going to be a bit more dark and violent than Pokemon would have you believe, in case you couldn't tell from the first few chapters. Also, new characters, and perhaps new arcs are ahead.

* * *

Blaze and Hector slept peacefully in the confines of their guild room. The day before had been trying, and as such they deserved every second of their rest. Blaze shifted in the soft hay that was her bed, blissfully unaware of the Pokémon sneaking into their room.

"UP AND AT 'EM! IT'S MORNING!" Blaze shot up in her bed, awoken by a very familiar, and very annoying, voice. Loudred stood at the entrance to their room, his large mouth wide open.

"God, must you give me a heart attack every morning?!" Hector growled, having awoken at the same time. Loudred grinned smugly and turned back towards the corridor, leaving them all behind.

"Ugh…good morning Hector," Blaze murmured, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with her wings. Hector grunted in response, followed by a long groan. When Blaze looked at him questioningly, the Totodile gave her a pitiful look.

"Stand in front of me when we go out there. I will literally open a vein or something if I have to say those ridiculous cheers," Hector told her. His words, coupled with his pitiful expression caused Blaze to burst out laughing. "What? It's not funny!"

"You do know you're larger than I am, right? Even if I do stand in front of you, Chatot will still be able to see your face," Blaze pointed out. Hector froze, and then hit the ground overdramatically, further amusing the Torchic.

Blaze led Hector back out into the main chamber, where the other apprentices were gathering. They received amicable greetings from Sunflora and Corphish, whom they had met yesterday. When they passed Chatot, the bird gave them a terse nod, and then motioned for them to fall in with the others.

When Wigglytuff emerged from his room, Chatot indicated that everyone should start the morning cheers.

Blaze, who had memorized the cheers from the day before, this time she decided to join in. Unlike Hector, whose right eye was twitching spasmodically at the moment, Blaze thought the cheers were fun and inspirational. Just by joining in, she felt caught up in their happiness, momentarily forgetting about her nervousness.

While they were cheering, Blaze noticed Hector's mouth moving, but no sound was coming up. Her mouth quirked into an amused smile when she realized that he was just mouthing the words.

"Okay, Pokémon, it's time to get to work!" Chatot declared after the cheers were finished, flapping his wings. Like the day before, the other Pokémon dispersed in all different directions. Blaze saw Diglett burrow away, and Sunflora and Corphish climbed up the ladder to the next level. Blaze and Hector were left alone on the bottom level, with Chatot.

"I guess we grab another job?" Hector suggested, though it was clear he didn't know what he was doing. Blaze nodded, but she was unsure whether or not she was ready to do a job without guidance just yet.

"Oh, you two. Still wandering around lost?" Chatot called to them, just like the day before. The bird hopped over to them, regarding them with his beady eyes. "Come with me. We'll have you try something different today."

"Oh! Sounds like fun! Come on, Hector!" Blaze exclaimed, following Chatot up the ladder to the next level. Hector was not far behind.

On the upper floor, the other apprentices were clustered around the different boards, ripping off jobs that interested them. There were also a few unfamiliar Pokémon there as well. Blaze spotted three Pokémon clustered around the A rank board on the right side, consisting of a Politoed, a Ledyba, and a Togepi. She guessed that they must be a non-guild exploration team that came here for the jobs.

Chatot led them to the left side of the room this time. Blaze noticed the other boards on this side. Were they more job requests? Or were these different types of jobs? Chatot looked like he was getting ready to explain, so Blaze listened carefully.

"Now, if you remember, the last job you did was from the boards on the other side," Chatot reminded them. "Today, we'll have you do a job from this side."

"Um…how are these different from the jobs on the other side?" Blaze asked curiously, trying to peer at the jobs pinned to the nearest board. Chatot, however, took them to the back corner of this side. If the room was set up like the other side, then the easiest jobs would be here.

"Take a closer look!" Chatot trilled, pointing a wing at the board. Blaze hopped forward obediently. When she got closer to the board, she clicked her beak.

"Hector, look! These posters show a variety of Pokémon!" Blaze exclaimed. Hector peered closer, his brow wrinkling. "They look really cool. Are they famous explorers?"

"Not quite, my dear Blaze. You see, the Pokémon posted here…are wanted for various crimes. Outlaws, if you will," Chatot told them grimly. Blaze stepped back in shock, mortified that she had called criminals cool.

"O-outlaws?!" she repeated, horrified. Chatot nodded.

"Correct. They are all worth quite a bit of money. In other words, if you capture one, you are paid handsomely by the Magnezone Police Force," Chatot explained further. "You see, there are so many bad Pokémon cropping up now that even they can't keep up with the problem."

"Wait…you're telling us to catch one of these outlaws?!" Blaze gasped. "You can't be serious! For Pokémon like us, that's impossible!"

"Speak for yourself on that one," Hector snapped all of a sudden, surprising Blaze. She looked down, murmuring an apology. She forgot that Hector was much stronger than she was, and had unintentionally offended him.

"Hee! Don't worry. As before, the criminals here are ranked by the severity of the crime and estimated difficulty. This board lists E rank criminals. They are petty thieves and smugglers, and should be easy for even apprentices to apprehend," Chatot assured them. Hector grunted in annoyance, turning his head. Blaze was incredibly anxious. Even a thief sounded really dangerous to her.

"I want you to look over these posters, and pick a Pokémon that looks weak enough for you to bring to justice," Chatot ordered them.

"Um…you say they're weak…but they're still bad Pokémon, right?" Blaze asked timidly, shuffling her talons on the ground. "I'm…scared of dangerous Pokémon."

"It's all just a part of your training. I'm sure you'll work through it, given enough time. Hector, you look to be physically fit. Do you have experience fighting tough Pokémon?" Chatot replied, and then turned to Hector. The Totodile nodded grimly.

"I can take care of myself well enough. Nothing I've seen so far has been a real match for me," Hector answered in a rather confident manner. It made Blaze feel a little better to know that she had someone so strong by her to care for her, but on the other hand, she didn't want to have to rely upon him all the time.

"That's good to hear. Take care of Blaze then," Chatot requested.

"You don't need to tell me that," Hector snapped. Blaze was worried at his attitude, though she did like that Hector already wanted to take care of her. Chatot ignored his rudeness.

"Now, I suppose you can't go off an do a job on your own without proper preparation…so I think I'll have someone give you a tour," Chatot decided. Hector looked up at that.

"I'd like that, actually. I barely know the guild, and I have no idea what Treasure Town actually looks like," Hector replied. Blaze then remembered that Hector had never been there, as he had always been with her. Chatot smiled and turned to the nearest apprentice, which happened to be Corphish. The Pokémon was looking over the C ranked outlaw board, though Sunflora was not with him like usual.

"Corphish, would you mind fetching Bidoof for me? I think he's down a floor," Chatot asked politely. Corphish jumped at being addressed so suddenly, but he composed himself quickly.

"Hey, I'd be happy to. I was just about to go and get Sunflora anyway. Be right back, hey hey!" Corphish answered smartly, and then moved over to the ladder and descended.

He soon returned with Sunflora and Bidoof, who was currently eating a white gummi. Chatot clucked his beak. "Ah, Bidoof. Do you ever stop eating?" the bird remarked.

"Well, I was hungry! Anyway, you called?" Bidoof asked after he finished eating his gummi. Chatot nodded, and indicated Hector and Blaze with his wing. Corphish, sensing that he wasn't needed, took Sunflora and headed up the ladder.

"That's right! These are the two newest recruits to the guild. Would you mind showing them around Treasure Town?" Chatot asked. Bidoof looked over at the two and gazed intently, as if sizing them up. Blaze shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

"By golly, you look strong," Bidoof commented when he looked at Hector. The Totodile didn't reply. "Anyhow, I'll do just that, sir! Yup yup!"

"Wonderful. Blaze, Hector, this is Bidoof. You may have seen him around already. I want you two to pay attention to what he has to say, and follow his orders. Now shoo! Off you go!"

Blaze, Hector, and Bidoof watched in silence as Chatot hopped over to the ladder and descended back to the bottom floor, probably to confer with the guildmaster. Bidoof looked back at them, and then hopped once, a goofy smile crossing his furry face.

"Oh shucks, I'm so happy right now!" Bidoof finally said once Chatot was out of earshot. Blaze tilted her head to one side.

"Why's that, Bidoof?" she asked curiously. Bidoof hopped again, clearly excited.

"I'm so glad to have members of the guild junior to me! I'm almost overcome right now," he exclaimed. Hector growled quietly next to Blaze. The Torchic realized that he must have misunderstood Bidoof's words, so she nudged him lightly. "You see, I was the most recent rookie, so now that you two are here, I don't feel as alone anymore!"

"That I can understand. Don't worry, you won't have to feel like that," Hector suddenly replied before Blaze had a chance to speak. She looked over at him, wondering where that sudden empathy came from. Hector seemed to be impossible to predict.

"Thanks, Hector! Anyhow, I'd best show you around. Come with me, please," Bidoof responded. He turned and began moving towards the lower ladder. Blaze followed him eagerly, as she didn't really know the full layout of the guild.

Back at the apprentice floor, Bidoof led them over to a strange structure on the right side of the room. It was mostly made of stone carved in the shape of a Pokémon, and there was a strange bubbling cauldron there. The carved stone seemed to look similar to the Pokémon that was standing at the behind the counter

"Meh-heh-heh…hey Bidoof. You have the...meh-heh-heh…new recruits with you…" the Croagunk spoke up when they drew close. Blaze shuddered at hearing his voice. He had a low, strange sounding voice, and he kept laughing in this creepy, deranged way.

"Yup yup! Just showing them around, Croagunk! Right. You two, this is Croagunk…however I don't really know what he does here," Bidoof explained. Croagunk remained silent, watching them all with a creepy toothed smile.

"Nice to meet you Croagunk!" Blaze greeted the Pokémon cordially, despite how she felt about him. He was a member of the guild, so he couldn't be that bad. Croagunk just nodded and laughed again. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?"

"Me? Meh-heh-heh…what am I doing here? Meh-heh-heh. Meh-heh-heh. Meh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh…" Croagunk trailed off, not answering her question at all. Blaze metaphorically sweatdropped, while Hector's face fell into his claws again.

"Okay, carry on then," Blaze told him, backing away. Once she was away from Croagunk, she shot Bidoof a questioning look. "What's with that guy?"

"To tell the truth, I have no earthly idea. All he does is fiddle around with that big cauldron back there," Bidoof replied. Then, he led them a bit further into the room, and started pointing in different directions. First, he pointed at the dining hall. "You've already been there. Dinner is served every night at the same time. You don't want to be late."

"Over there on the left are the crew rooms. You've been there too, yup yup! Everyone in the guild sleeps there," Bidoof continued. Then he pointed at the guildmaster's chamber. "That there is the guildmaster's room. That about sums up the guild. You two ready to go into Treasure Town?"

When they indicated their approval, Bidoof took Blaze and Hector up both sets of ladders until they were back in the small tent that was the entrance to the guild. Once the gate opened, they were back on the cliff. Bidoof took them down to the crossroads, which was a little ways down the stairs. At this point, the road split into four different directions. Bidoof pointed at a small structure near the crossroads, which was made up of wood and stone. There was a small well underneath a wooden canopy, which was filled with water.

"That's the watering hole. Pokémon from all over the town come here for their everyday water needs. The guild draws from here as well. Thankfully, rain is plentiful, so it doesn't ever dry up," Bidoof began. Blaze already knew everything about Treasure Town, because she'd been here many times. However, Hector was drinking in every word Bidoof said, as this was all new to him.

"If you head south from here, you'll reach the beach, as well as the beach cave. It's a good place to go if you don't know how mystery dungeons work," their guide continued. This, Blaze and Hector knew. "Next, if you head east, it passes through the eastern residential district, and then heads out of the town."

Bidoof then took them west, into the main square of Treasure Town itself. There were lots of Pokémon out and about today, as the weather was nice. Blaze spotted Corphish and Sunflora out here too, probably stocking up for their next journey.

Blaze noticed Hector glancing at the first structure they passed. It was one of the most important places in the town, and Blaze knew she had to stop by there before they set out again. The building was constructed in the likeness of its owner, a Pokémon called Duskull. The building had both an interior and exterior, although the interior was mostly used for storing, while Duskull interacted with customers at the outside counter.

"This is the main square for the local Pokémon," Bidoof started again. Blaze decided that she should probably help out, so she spoke up.

"Hector, I can tell you about this place too. Look over there," she began. Hector did so, glancing at the large Duskull shaped building. "That's Duskull bank. He's an eccentric character, but he loves to hoard things. He'll save your money there, and will fight to the death to defend it from thieves."

"Next, you have the Electivire Shop," Blaze moved on, pointing to the far side of the clearing. There was another building, once again shaped like its owner. However, the exterior counter was abandoned. "He sells things like wonder orbs, augmenting items, and will even teach you different types of moves. It's all crazy expensive, though."

"Where's Electivire?" Hector asked curiously, noticing the empty counter. Blaze knew that as well, as she had talked to the owner on one occasion.

"He's probably out to gather more stock. He deals in especially rare stock, so he often goes out on journeys with his assistant, Abra, to gather materials. He always comes back with such rare stuff, though," she explained.

"Looks like you know more about this place than me!" Bidoof remarked, finally speaking up. He had gone silent when he had figured out that Blaze knew the place. "I think I'll let you do the talking for a little bit."

Blaze, delighted to be given further permission by their guide, led Hector across the clearing and to the next one, where even more buildings were located. They ended up passing a Swellow and a Wurmple along the way, who greeted them politely as they passed.

The first building Blaze pointed at was a large, colorful tent that was depicted with images of Kecleon. "That's Kecleon Market. The Kecleon brothers work together to run probably the most successful shop in the city. The green Kecleon interacts with the customers and makes sales, while the blue Kecleon handles inventory and arranges trade with other towns across the continent." Bidoof sighed at the end of that particular explanation.

"You really do know more than me. I always assumed the blue one was just there for moral support or something," he lamented. Hector also seemed impressed by Blaze's knowledge of the town. The Torchic continued her tour, feeling a little proud of herself.

"That collection of brown sheds is collectively known as the Kangaskhan storage. The proprietor is incredibly organized, and items stored with her are never lost. She also has an incredible memory, so she can tell whose an item is just by looking at it," Blaze finished, indicating the sheds in question. "And that should do it for Treasure Town."

"At least for the places that exploration teams need to know," Bidoof added. "Well, I'm glad you're so well informed. It makes things easier on me."

"All right, I think I'll be able to find my way around now in the future," Hector affirmed, before looking back at Bidoof. "What do we do now?"

"Now, you need to stock up for your next job! I'll let you figure out what you need to bring. I'll wait for you at the outlaw boards. Find me when you're done," Bidoof told them. Blaze nodded, and then she and Hector left Bidoof in the middle of the square.

"I don't know what the hell to get, so I'll let you lead," Hector told her. Blaze giggled at that, and then she decided to get her business done soon, so they would have plenty of daylight left to carry out their job.

First, Blaze visited the bank, while Hector just followed her cluelessly. The moment she stepped in front of the exterior counter, Duskull himself faded into view. Hector jumped in surprise when the ghost Pokémon started talking suddenly to Blaze, as he hadn't noticed Duskull's presence.

"So you'll be withdrawing money? A shame, you were starting to accumulate quite a bit. I was even starting to enjoy the gleam given off by your little pile, hee-hee," Duskull said, after Blaze had indicated that she wanted to take all of her money out. The ghost was an odd individual, but Blaze trusted him. She'd never lost a single Poké since she started storing her money here.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll have plenty more to give you by the time I return," Blaze assured the ghost. Duskull lit up at the mention of more money. The ghost faded into nothing for a moment, before reappearing with a small leather bag. He passed it to her, and when she grabbed it she could feel the weight of the Poké inside.

Blaze bid Duskull goodbye, and then she strode away from the bank, Hector following behind. "How much money did you have stored away in there?" The Totodile asked curiously.

"Well, I had four hundred in there, and that gives is six hundred, if you add the money from yesterday's job," Blaze answered. Hector nodded silently, and continued to follow her.

Passing the Electivire Shop, Blaze led Hector to the Kecleon Market, crossing a river along the way. After reaching the other side, Blaze noticed a Pokémon approaching them. She recognized him immediately.

"Blaze! Good to see you in town again," the Pokémon greeted her amiably. Blaze hopped forward with a smile, greeting him happily. "What brings you here?"

"Good to see you too, Vigoroth! I'm here with Hector, buying supplies for a trip," Blaze replied. Vigoroth started, and then looked over at Hector.

"Really? Ah, then you two must be the two new guild recruits I've been hearing about. I'm so glad you finally made it in," Vigoroth said very politely. Hector raised an eyebrow.

"Um…Blaze? Who is this?" Hector finally asked, eyeing Vigoroth suspiciously.

"Hector, this is Vigoroth! Before I joined the guild with you, he was the one providing me with a constant source of information. It's why I'm so well informed about happenings here," she introduced her informant to the Totodile. Vigoroth extended a friendly hand to Hector, who took it.

"Well, Blaze, now that you're in an exploration team, you'll probably want to know about the teams that are in town," Vigoroth began. "It won't take long."

"Wait, are you talking about the ones in the guild, or official ones?" Blaze asked curiously.

"Official ones. You probably haven't heard of Team Glee, but they're here in town, looking for jobs. You'll know them by their leader, Togepi," Vigoroth started. Blaze suddenly remembered seeing a Togepi in the guild earlier today. That had been Team Glee?

"Also, Teams Seedgey, Tasty, and Ebony are here in the square, probably for the same reason you are," the informant finished. "I think that's about it."

"Thank you Vigoroth. Now, I need to get those supplies. Someone is waiting on us," Blaze said, moving away from Vigoroth. The Pokémon nodded and allowed them to go, giving her a polite goodbye as she did so.

"Why would we care about the other teams?" Hector queried. Blaze's eyes were shining.

"There are real exploration teams here in Treasure Town! Don't you think that's cool?" Blaze exclaimed. "I wonder what they're like? Do you think we could get some pointers from them?"

She noticed that Hector's face adopted his signature flat-browed expression that generally meant that he didn't care for what he was hearing.

"I guess you're not interested," she looked down, crestfallen. Hector heard what she said and then he shook his head wildly.

"That's not what I'm looking at. I'm looking at that. One of your 'real' exploration teams," Hector corrected her, pointing past her. Blaze turned to see two Pokémon, both of which were wearing the exploration team badge.

"But Shuppet…"

"But nothing! Murkrow, Team Ebony finds treasure, not worthless scraps of crystal!

"Come on…"

"NO! Why are you so obsessed…"

"Because it's shiny…."

"UGH!"

Blaze was soon giggling to herself after watching Team Ebony argue with themselves over seemingly nothing. Shuppet and Murkrow moved past them, continuing to argue pointlessly.

"All right, I guess we should visit the shop now," Hector stated. Blaze nodded, and then she moved over to the Kecleon Market. The green Kecleon was standing at the counter, waiting for customers, while the blue one was barely visible, bent over a pile of boxes.

"Welcome! How may I help you today?" The green Kecleon greeted Blaze when she approached. She immediately began by stating a list of items that she had on her mind. She had six hundred Poké to spend, and she intended to put it to good use.

Blaze was sure she didn't need any more food, as she still had some gummis left over from their last trip to Drenched Bluff. That would tide them over for a good amount of time. However, she did need some assorted berries, in case she and Hector encountered some of the nastier variety of Pokémon, such as those that could poison or lull her to sleep. As such, Blaze told the Kecleon what she wanted, and he would turn around and ask the blue Kecleon to gather the items for her.

"There you go, miss. I hope you'll come back and do business with us soon," the green Kecleon bid her in a friendly manner. Blaze nodded, and was about to leave with Hector, when she spotted two more Pokémon approaching the counter.

"Misters Kecleon!" called a young, male voice. Blaze looked to see two small, blue Pokémon heading in her direction. The green Kecleon appeared to recognize them, as he smiled happily.

"Ah! Little Marill and Azurill! Good to see you again!" Kecleon greeted them jovially. Marill smiled happily at the greeting. The small Pokémon reached their hands up, and Kecleon reached down and gently lifted them to the counter top, so they could see better.

"Hello, sir. I'd like to buy an apple today," Azurill piped up in an even younger sounding voice. Blaze reasoned that Marill must have been younger than she was by at least five years. Azurill seemed to be even younger than that.

"Of course! Kec, if you would?" Kecleon replied, and then turned and addressed his brother. The blue Kecleon acknowledged with a grunt, and soon handed an apple to Kecleon. "Here you go, that'll be fifty Poké."

The exchange was made, and Marill took the apple from Kecleon, which was held in a small bag. Azurill eyed the bag hungrily. "Thank you!" Marill bid the shopkeeper. Kecleon nodded and smiled graciously. With that, the two blue Pokémon turned and headed back the way they came with their purchase. Kecleon noticed that Blaze and Hector had been watching them curiously.

"You see, those delightful children are brothers. Their mother fell sick, and so they do the shopping for her. It's very remarkable," Kecleon explained.

"I agree! Their mother is very lucky to have such children," Blaze concurred, a smile gracing her face. It warmed her heart to see how Marill and Azurill had stepped up and taken charge, rather than ask another Pokémon to help.

"Ah, wait!" Marill's voice drifted back to them, and everyone looked to see the two brothers returning. Blaze wondered what they were doing back.

"Oh? What's made you return in such a rush?" Kecleon asked curiously. Azurill reached into the bag that he held and produced an apple.

"There was an extra apple. We didn't pay for this, so I wanted to return it," he admitted. Kecleon and Kec glanced at one another with a knowing smile.

"There's no need for that. You see, that apple is a gift from my brother and me," the shopkeeper told them. "Please, share it amongst yourselves and enjoy."

"Really?" Marill exclaimed in shock, looking at the apple, and then back at Kecleon. "Thank you, Mr. Kecleon and Mr. Kec!"

"Think nothing of it. Be careful on your way home." The two brothers seemed ecstatic at the free gift.

Blaze was just about getting ready to leave when she noticed Azurill stumble over something on the ground, and then fall over with a squeak. The apple Azurill was holding flew out of his hands and rolled over to Hector, who politely picked it up for when Azurill returned for it.

Azurill got to his feet, and then walked over to Hector, who was still holding his apple. The Pokémon was flushed red from embarrassment.

"S-sorry for the trouble…thank you," Azurill stammered. The poor Pokémon was clearly intimidated by Hector's bulk. Hector passed the apple back to Azurill, his claw brushing against the Pokémon's paw in the process. The second their skin made contact, Hector stiffened. Blaze noticed his sudden change in posture, finding it odd.

"Is something the matter?" Azurill asked nervously, noticing that Hector was staring at him oddly.

"Hey, Azurill!" Marill called from the bridge. The other Pokémon turned to see his brother waving. "We still have to find that item we lost, come on!"

"I'm coming! Wait up!" Azurill cried, and then he ran after his brother, soon disappearing from sight.

"Those guys were so cute," Blaze commented, and then she noticed that Hector was looking strange. His eyes were wide and unfocused, and beads of sweat lined his brow. "Um…Hector? Is something wrong?"

"Did you hear a cry for help just then?" Hector suddenly said, his features returning to normal. Blaze raised an eyebrow at the question.

"Huh? Uh…no. Nothing like that," she answered uncertainly. She wondered if her partner was still sane. Just to make sure she wasn't just deaf, she turned to Kecleon.

"Kecleon? Did you hear anything strange just a moment ago?" She inquired. Kecleon tilted his head to one side in confusion.

"No, nothing out of the ordinary," the shopkeeper answered. Hector looked troubled, even as Blaze looked at him in concern.

"You must have imagined it, Hector," Blaze assured him. Hector did not look convinced, but he didn't saying anything else about it. Then the Pokémon started gazing into the distance, seemingly looking at nothing. "Um, are you daydreaming?"

"No. If we have everything, then let's go," Hector snapped, surprising Blaze. She nodded, starting to wonder if Hector was having an off day.

Blaze bid the two Kecleon farewell, and proceeded down the street back across the river. She had one last stop to make before heading back to the guild. She turned in the direction of Duskull's bank, planning to deposit her remaining money there.

When Blaze and Hector reached the square, she noticed Marill and Azurill talking to another Pokémon right next to the Electivire Shop. She smiled when seeing them, and went to move on, but then she noticed Hector staring pointedly at Azurill.

"Hector?" she prompted him. Hector ignored her and walked closer to the two brothers. Blaze followed him curiously. Hector wasn't the kind to act without thinking, so she knew that he must have a reason for his sudden interest in the brothers.

Finally, they drew close enough to pick up on their conversation. Marill and Azurill were thanking the other Pokémon profusely for a reason that Hector was keen on finding out.

"Hector, if you want to find something out, you don't need to eavesdrop," Blaze admonished the Totodile. Hector looked at her oddly, and then his eyes bugged out when Blaze sauntered up to the three Pokémon.

"Hi! What's going on?" Blaze asked amiably, inserting herself into the conversation. Hector sighed and stood next to her.

"Oh, hello!" Azurill greeted her happily. Neither he nor Marill seemed to care that Blaze had approached them so suddenly.

"You see, we lost something that was really important to us, and we can't seem to find it," Marill explained.

"We've been looking for days!" Azurill added. "We didn't think we'd ever find it, but then Mr. Drowzee here told us that he knows where our item is!"

Drowzee, who was the Pokémon standing just next to the brothers, adopted a warm smile and turned to face Blaze. She noticed a small scar on his brow, but she didn't stare at it overlong, as Drowzee began speaking. "I was planning on taking them to where it is. It's in a relatively safe location, but I wouldn't want to send them there alone," he said. Blaze decided that she liked Drowzee. It took a great deal of kindness for a Pokémon to go out to his way to help complete strangers.

"Wow, that's great for you! You're really kind, Drowzee," Blaze replied, amazed. Drowzee scratched the back of his head in embarrassment at the praise.

"Please, I'd have to be cold-hearted to turn a blind eye to kids in need," he said modestly. "It's what any good citizen would do."

"Thanks again, Mr. Drowzee! How soon can we start searching?" Marill asked curiously. The two children gazed up at the older Pokémon, awaiting his answer.

"We can go right away, if you'd like," Drowzee answered kindly. Marill and Azurill were particularly pleased by his answer, jumping up and down.

"Yay! Let's go!" Azurill exclaimed. Drowzee nodded, smiling, and then he followed the two away from the square.

"It was nice to meet you," Drowzee said to Blaze, turning his head to face her while he walked. Because he wasn't watching where he was going, he accidentally bumped into Hector. "Oh, pardon me."

The second Drowzee made contact with Hector's skin, the Totodile stiffened. Blaze watched Drowzee and the brothers leave with a smile. "That Drowzee was very kind. It's not very often you see someone like that. With all of these bad Pokémon around, it's hard to do good deeds," she said to Hector. When Blaze didn't get a reply, she turned to Hector.

The Totodile was as stiff as a board. Beads of sweat lined his brow. His eyes were unfocused, gazing ahead at nothing. His expression was very similar to when he had touched Azurill. Worried, Blaze hopped towards him. "Hector? Is something the matter?"

Hector's expression returned to normal, but not for very long. A few moments after he returned to his senses, a low growl emitted from his throat. His eyes narrowed angrily.

"Um…are you okay? You look…scary," Blaze pressed. Something was wrong with her friend. He hadn't been acting normal since he touched Azurill, and now it seemed to be getting even worse.

"That's twice now," Hector spoke suddenly. Blaze tilted her head to one side. Was he finally going to explain to her what was going on with him? "I can't afford to ignore this one. Blaze, I need to tell you something."

"That sounds important. What's up?" Blaze prompted him to continue. She actually liked that he was confiding in her now, rather than the other way around.

"Just now, and when Azurill touched me earlier, you may have noticed me acting rather strangely. That is because I experienced a sort of dizzy spell, and I would be shown a premonition of some sort," Hector began. Blaze couldn't believe what she was hearing, but Hector did not look like he was joking.

"A premonition? Of what?"

"At first, it was just a voice, calling for help. It was Azurill's voice, I'm certain of it. When Drowzee nudged me, however, I experienced a stronger premonition, where I received input for all five senses. I was in a mountainous place where the air was very thin, presumably at a high elevation. I could see Drowzee and Azurill standing in front of a rocky wall," Hector continued. Blaze was now sufficiently confused. The fact that he could see anything in his mind was rather unbelievable for a Pokémon that wasn't psychic-type, but he was giving her so much detail that it seemed unlikely that he was just making it up off of the top of his head.

"Drowzee was angry about something, and he was yelling at Azurill vehemently. I couldn't hear most of what he was saying, but I did hear this. 'If you keep being difficult, then you'll never see your brother again!'" Hector finished. "If what I'm seeing is going to happen, then I can't just stand around."

"Okay, so let me get this straight. You had a dizzy spell and saw Azurill being threatened by Drowzee?" Blaze reiterated Hector's story. Hector nodded in confirmation. She sighed, looking down. "What you described sounds like an emergency, but…"

"…but what?" Hector asked in a dangerously soft voice. Blaze shuddered a little before continuing.

"Um…it's not like I don't trust you…but that's…I can't believe it. Drowzee seemed to be a really good Pokémon. When I watched them go, they seemed to be getting along very well!" Blaze said. Hector's claws curled up into a fist.

"I knew I shouldn't have told you. I knew you wouldn't believe me," Hector growled, turning away from her. Blaze grew anxious at his reaction. She didn't mean to make him react like that. She didn't want to discourage him from talking to her.

"Look, Hector, you were probably just tired. Bad daydreams do happen. Besides, we're apprentices, we can't just go charging off on our own!" Blaze quickly tried to save the situation before Hector stormed off to do something stupid. Hector stopped, his head turning slightly back towards her.

"'Tired?' That's really the best you could come up with?" Hector snapped. Blaze took a step back. Her friend was scary when he was mad. Never once had she considered that his anger might ever be directed towards her. "You're telling me that simply being tired can cause me to have a premonition like that?"

"Hector…"

"Don't you 'Hector' me! I know what a daydream is! I was fully aware when I received them, and the images were vivid enough to be real. Don't try and tell me that that was a fucking daydream!" The Totodile's voice grew louder, such that the nearest Pokémon were beginning to take notice. Blaze was feeling more and more stressed as her friend shouted at her. She didn't feel she deserved such a tirade for merely expressing a slight doubt.

"Hector…please. You're not a psychic-type, and even if you were, premonitions that clear don't occur to many of them. Why don't we just go back to the guild and forget this ever happened?" Blaze tried to calm down her friend. Hector looked even more furious, and she thought he was going to start yelling again. Instead, he let out a long sigh, and turned the other direction.

"Fine. We'll do it your way. If little Azurill ends up dead later, it won't be my fault," Hector growled. Blaze sighed, relieved that he done shouting at her. She doubted that anything would come of her friend's "premonition." If anything, she was slightly little disturbed that Hector could even consider that something bad would happen to the two children.

Now that their argument was over with, they went to finish up their business in the square. Blaze made another visit to Duskull bank, handing the rest of her money to Duskull, and then started heading back to the guild. She didn't try and talk to Hector on the way back, as her friend was still seething mad, and she didn't want to set him off again. All because of some silly premonition that she was sure didn't mean anything. After all, Blaze had liked Drowzee, and she believed that he wouldn't have done anything to hurt the two children.

Bidoof was waiting for them on the middle floor of the guild, where the job boards were. Blaze headed straight for him, although she did notice Team Glee passing her with a poster clutched in the politoed's hand. Bidoof saw her coming and trundled up to her.

"There you are, Blaze and Hector. Are you ready to enforce the law?" Bidoof asked excitedly. Blaze nodded, though her enthusiasm was slightly dampened by Hector's sullen mood. "Good. Let's find you a lawbreaker to find. Look at all of these."

Bidoof indicated with a paw the entire wall covered in outlaw boards, from the S+ to the E rank difficulty jobs. "Since I'm your mentor, I think I should pick for you."

"Don't pick anyone too scary," Blaze requested. She was glad that she didn't have to choose on her own just yet. With her inexperience, she would probably pick one of the hardest jobs and end up dead.

Just as Bidoof was leading them over to the jobs that were ranked E, a series of crashes emanated from the wall holding the S+ jobs. Blaze looked in that direction to see the S+ board rotating on a central axis, revealing a dark hole behind it for a split second. When it stopped rotating, the board's position had been reversed. Blaze was now looking at the back of the board.

Before she could ask, the A board executed a similar rotation, followed by the B, C, D, and E boards. All of the boards were now reversed. She looked at Bidoof in confusion.

"Ah, I reckon that'll be Dugtrio, doing his job," Bidoof observed. He then noticed Blaze's bewilderment. "Guess I'd better explain. Dugtrio is the Pokémon that updates the job listings that are on every board. Whenever he gets new jobs, he burrows into a tunnel just behind those boards. Then, he flips 'em over, like he just did, and pins all the new jobs up, before flipping 'em back over."

"That actually makes a lot of sense. Isn't Dugtrio the Pokémon that always spends time on Sharpedo's Bluff?" Blaze replied. Bidoof chuckled at little at her question.

"Yes, actually. He does love that view," he replied. Then, with another series of crashes, the boards began flipping back over, with new jobs pinned upon them. "Anyhow, I'd best take you to the E board and get you a job."

Blaze was about to reply when something on the board nearest to her caught her eye. She did a double take, and then began to tremble in fright. Bidoof noticed her change in demeanor and glanced at her with a concerned expression on his face.

"Are you all right, Blaze? You're shivering." Blaze couldn't bring herself to answer just yet. She simply couldn't believe what she was seeing. Bidoof raised an eyebrow at her silence. "It's not cold here, so…"

"Hector," Blaze finally said. The Totodile glanced at her askance, still simmering. However, his angry expression disappeared when he noticed how anxious Blaze looked. He watched as she pointed a shaking wing at a job pinned upon the nearest board.

The job pinned on the upper left of the board depicted a very familiar Pokémon, only with a sneer on his formerly kind face. It was Drowzee.

"I fucking knew it!" Hector roared, snatching the request off of the board. Bidoof, taken aback by the scene taking place in front of him, did nothing but watch.

Blaze knew that there were many other of Drowzee's kind out there. However, she knew it was him. It was just too much of a coincidence for Hector to suddenly spout off about some vision and then have a Drowzee show up on the outlaw board. This suspicion was then compounded when she saw the small scar on the Drowzee's brow. "Hector! We can't waste any time! Where does the job say he is?"

Hector took a quick look over the request, noticing a small map on the lower edge of the paper. It indicated a mountain located at the very edge of a large mountain range that took up nearly half of the landmass of the continent. He quickly memorized its location so he could mark it on their Wonder Map later. "I've got it. Come on Blaze, let's go!"

Blaze and Hector broke into a run, heading up the ladder that led to the guild's exit. They left behind a very perplexed Bidoof, who was still in shock that those he was trying to mentor had just left him.

* * *

Blaze knew that she owed Hector an apology for doubting him. Her doubt at the time had been reasonable, but now that his premonition had been proven by the bounty on Drowzee's head, she felt really stupid. Looking at Hector, however, it didn't seem like gloating was the first thing on his mind.

The two soon left the guild behind, sprinting down the cliff to the crossroads, and then through the residential district to the exit of town.

"It's pretty far to our destination, but that's actually a good thing. We might be able to catch up with Drowzee and the brothers before they reach the mountain," Hector informed her. It was a long way to the mountain, so the two slowed their pace to a brisk walk. This way, they could refrain from wasting all of their energy too soon.

"Where exactly are we heading?" Blaze asked. Hector looked at the Wonder Map once more, and then rolled it up and handed it back to Blaze, who placed it back in her bag.

"We're to head east from town until we pass through a forest, and then cut north-east until we reach the mountain. It may take us more than a day, so I hope you brought some food," Hector clarified. Blaze made a quick check through her bag. After she determined that their supply of gummis and apples would be sufficient, she gave the Totodile a confirmatory nod. "Good," he replied. "We'll stop for the night once we start heading north-east."

With that, the two continued their journey. The fate of the two brothers rested on their shoulders.

* * *

Chatot hopped up the ladder, having just returned from a conference with the guildmaster. The bird flapped his wings and huffed, stressed from the workload that he had been given. Being the guildmaster's right hand Pokémon was not an easy job. Chatot had to deal with everything from organizing incoming jobs to handling the guild's budget. Suffice to say, he was one busy bird.

Upon arriving in the job floor, Chatot went to make sure that all of the jobs were in order, and which had been taken. The first thing the bird noticed, however, was a very anxious Bidoof trundling up to him.

"Um…Chatot, sir? We have a bit of a problem," Bidoof began haltingly. Chatot hopped once and flapped his wings impatiently.

"What is it? Speak quickly now, I have a lot of things to do, I'm sure you understand," Chatot replied, irritated. Bidoof gulped once before continuing.

"You remember how you told me to pick a job for Team Phoenix?" the Pokémon began. Chatot then realized that Team Phoenix was nowhere to be seen.

"Ah, so you sent them off already. With an E ranked job, I'm sure," Chatot responded, clicking his beak in satisfaction.

"Yeah…about that. I was about to suggest a suitable job for them when Hector took a job from the C rank board and ran off," Bidoof confessed. Chatot nodded understandingly. Then the bird did a double take.

"Wait, C RANK?!" Chatot screeched in shock, loud enough to gain the attention of every other Pokémon in the room. Bidoof nodded worriedly. "They're beginners! They'll be killed! This is terrible! Bidoof, how could you let them go?!"

"By golly, sir, I'm sorry! Everything happened so fast, I…" Bidoof tried to defend himself, but Chatot cut across him.

"Never mind that. Where did they go? We need to send someone after them before they're killed!" Chatot demanded. Bidoof hesitated, trying to remember where the request had been located.

"I think they were headed for Mt. Bristle, if I remember right." If Chatot had been worried now, he was doubly worried now.

"Gah! That's even worse! Do you know what's on that mountain?!" The bird practically shrieked. Team Ebony, who had just descended the ladder into the guild, flinched and gazed at the bird in confusion. "I'll tell you! Our sources report the presence of an extremely dangerous Pokémon on that mountain. It's incredibly territorial, and will no doubt kill Team Phoenix before they even reach their target!"

"That's terrible! Isn't there anything we can do?" Bidoof gasped, horrified. Chatot didn't answer him, instead turning to the nearest exploration team, which happened to be Team Ebony.

"Excuse me, can I ask you two a huge favor?" Chatot asked politely. His tone was still urgent, but he knew better than to yell at someone he was asking a favor from.

"That depends on what it is, and what you're offering as payment," Team Ebony's leader, Shuppet, answered confidently. Murkrow was less dignified and immediately began hopping up and down in excitement.

"Oh! Oh! Shuppet! Ask for something shiny! Please! Please! Shiny!" Murkrow began begging her partner incessantly, until Shuppet finally turned around and hissed at the bird, "Shut the hell up!"

"It doesn't matter this point. 3000 Poké and a shiny crystal! Just go to Mt. Bristle and bring back Team Phoenix!" Chatot begged. Murkrow's eyes went wide and happy at the mention of the crystal, while Shuppet appeared to be intrigued by the offer of money.

"That's a done deal. Now, who are the members of Team Phoenix?" Shuppet agreed. Chatot sighed in relief.

"A torchic, and a Totodile. You'll know when you see them. Please hurry. We don't know how long they have until that powerful Pokémon finds them!" Chatot answered.

"Powerful Pokémon? Ah, that would be Aggron. I once had the misfortune to meet him. I didn't end up the victor in that confrontation," Shuppet said. "We'd best hurry. Come on, Murkrow. The sooner we go, the sooner you can get your crystal."

"Yay! Shiny shiny!" Murkrow exclaimed, following Shuppet as the Pokémon headed up the ladder.

"I only hope they make it in time," Chatot muttered to himself, truly worried for the well-being of their newest guild members.

* * *

Blaze and Hector made good time at first. She was a good runner due to her anatomy, so she was able to move at a fast pace for extended periods of time. Hector, on the other hand, began to show signs of fatigue once they had entered the forest. Blaze was impressed that he had been able to keep up with her for so long. Unlike her, Hector's legs were short and unsuited to long distance running. Despite this, Hector never asked for rest.

Fortunately, the forest through which they passed was not a mystery dungeon. That way, the two would not have to waste their energy, for there weren't any hostile Pokémon living within.

After leaving the forest, they moved northeast, heading for the mountains. The mountain range was already visible, encroaching on the horizon to the east. According to the wonder map, there was a large mountain pass further ahead that concealed a crescent shaped area of land, covered with forests. At the northern edge of the mountain pass was a particularly large mountain that rose high enough to have a snow-covered top. That was their destination.

As the sun had not fallen by the time Hector had planned to make camp, they pushed farther before night fell, with the base of the mountain in sight. There, they made a small camp by a ridge.

In the morning, it only took the two an hour and a half to reach the base of the mountain.

* * *

Blaze followed Hector into the rocky clearing. She knew that from here on out, it would not be as easy as it had been.

The clearing was roughly circular, bordered by grey jagged rocks. The composition of the soil was different here as well, being mostly rock combined with a fine dust. Several rock formations encroached upon the clearing, making several good hiding places for Pokémon. The only path forward was a small path that wound up a steep hill. Blaze strained her eyes, realizing that so far, they had not stumbled into a mystery dungeon. She had been certain that the mountain would be one, as they tended to occur mostly in large natural phenomenon's, such as the cave on the beach or a particularly thick forest.

"This is the place. The landscape is very similar to what I remember. Drowzee and Azurill should be somewhere on this mountain," Hector confirmed. He peered around a rock formation, making sure there were no hostile Pokémon lying in wait.

"This place looks dangerous. We'd better hurry. They can't be that far ahead of us," Blaze said. Hector slipped around the rock formation, and Blaze followed.

"Is this place one of those mystery dungeons?" Hector asked as they navigated towards the path.

"You know, I was just thinking about that. I can't say for sure, because I've never been here before, but I don't think this is one. If you look, you can see the path winding along the side of the mountain," Blaze responded readily, pointing. "That means we could have seen it from a long way away. If this was a mystery dungeon, then there could be many different possibilities for the exact formation of the path. That being said, usually we don't start seeing the effects of the distorted time until we're very close to the mystery dungeon."

"So because it could be seen from a long distance away by any Pokémon, it's continuously locked in a singular timeline?" Hector tried to clarify. Blaze blinked. She still didn't understand Hector's theory of multiple timelines.

"I'm not sure. Or maybe time could be stable in this region," she conjectured.

"That would be nice. That way it would be worth committing this place to memory," he replied, nodding.

Just as the two were about to leave the clearing and begin climbing the mountain, they heard a small gasp from behind them. Hector immediately whirled around, his claws curling into fists and his arms adopting a combat stance. Blaze hopped around as well, though she knew that if the gasp had come from a hostile Pokémon, Hector would likely take care of it in less than five seconds.

"Marill?" Hector gasped in surprise upon seeing the battered form of the young Pokémon lying on the ground by a rock formation in such a way that he would not have been visible from where they had come from. Blaze was shocked upon seeing the child in such a state. She rushed to him, already reaching inside her bag for the bottle of ointment.

"H…help," Marill moaned pitifully. Blaze knelt down beside him, uncorking the bottle and dabbing some of the healing liquid onto the young Pokémon's injuries. The poor thing was bruised and cut.

"Are you all right? What happened?" Hector demanded anxiously. Marill looked up at their faces, a spark of recognition appearing in his eyes.

"You're…those nice Pokémon from the square. Please, you have to help my brother…" Marill begged.

"Did Drowzee do this?" Hector asked ominously, an edge creeping into his voice. Blaze let Hector do the asking, while she focused on patching up Marill.

"He…he's evil. He lured us all the way out to this mountain, and then when Azurill wasn't looking, he told me he had no use for me, and made it so I couldn't move," Marill began. "But that isn't why I'm hurt. I tried to go after them after I got free. I followed them into a cave, but the Pokémon inside…they hurt me."

"A cave…Blaze, do you know what that means?" Hector insinuated, glancing meaningfully at Blaze. She nodded grimly.

"A mystery dungeon. Looks like this won't be so easy after all," she responded. "Marill, Hector and I will go and get your brother."

"Really? Oh, thank you so much!" Marill replied happily, and then hissed in pain when Blaze bandaged up a particularly sensitive wound.

"Doing such a thing to children…it's unforgivable," Hector growled dangerously. Torchic gulped nervously. She had seen Hector angry, and he was scary. She was glad it wasn't her on the receiving end of that anger.

"Hector, what should we do with Marill? I don't want to leave him all alone out here," Blaze asked.

"We can't take him with us, either," Hector reminded her. Blaze frowned. She couldn't stay behind and watch him, because she was sure that Hector would need her help with Drowzee.

"I'll be fine. The bad Pokémon didn't follow me out here. Please, just save Azurill," Marill pleaded. Hector and Blaze looked at one another.

"Hector?" Blaze prompted.

"We don't have much of a choice in this situation. Blaze, let's go. The quicker we find Azurill, the better," Hector decided. Blaze nodded, and began to follow him up the path. "And then I'm going make Drowzee pay."


	4. The Battle on Mt Bristle

Hey, I'm back with another chapter. Sorry for taking so long with this, I hit writers block in the middle of the chapter and then left it alone to work on Darkness Reigns Supreme. But, it's done, and it's a thousand more words than I expected it to be. I expected the fight with Drowzee to be shorter than it was, but then one thing came after another and then next thing I know, I've reached my minimum word count. So I had to wrap it up quickly. Hopefully the fight is what you expected.

Anyhow, enough talking. Enjoy the awesomeness of the first real plot mission!

* * *

Mt. Bristle towered high above the surrounding carpet of lush forests and green fields. It was a barren place, almost completely devoid of plants or shrubs of any kind, save for the odd patch of moss or a scraggly sapling eking out a miserable existence.

A large thunderstorm unleashed torrents of rain on the windward side of the mountain, while the lee side was largely untouched. Peals of thunder sounded in the heavens, reaching the ears of the two Pokémon that were climbing the mountain.

Blaze took a moment to rest, panting. Her legs were not meant for mountainous landscapes, especially a path like this. The trail they were following did not circumvent the mountain in a gradual slope as she had expected, but instead traced an erratic path that zigzagged up a slope that varied from unperceivable to nearly vertical, where she and Hector were forced to climb. The climbing was particularly hard on her.

"Just a little bit further until the cave. I can see it ahead, past that ridge," Hector assured her. He seemed to be in good condition, despite the harshness of the terrain. Blaze reasoned that this was because he had the anatomy for a climb like this, as opposed to her. When she tried to hold on to a handhold, her wings would hurt and she would be forced to move fast or risk falling.

Looking ahead, Blaze saw a jagged hole in the side of a rocky cliff. She then noticed a strange distortion in the mouth of the cave, similar to the one she noticed at the Drenched Bluff not long ago. She wondered if the distortion had something to do with mystery dungeons. She resolved to look out for similar distortions in future mystery dungeons.

She watched Hector leap up the ridge, his claws grabbing hold on the edge. His muscles strained as he pulled himself up. Blaze gulped, and tried to use her wings to do the same. However, her wings were not meant for holding her own weight. She instead used her legs to propel herself upwards. Her wings grasped onto a handhold for a few seconds, before she was able to dig her talons into the side of the ridge. Then she used her wings to stabilize herself before making one last jump to the top of the ridge. From there, Hector grabbed onto her shoulder and pulled her up roughly.

"Thanks," she told him. Hector nodded once in acknowledgment. They moved down the mostly level path towards the cave. The distortion was slowly dissipating the closer they got, until the inside could be seen clearly. Blaze still didn't quite understand what the distortion was.

Hector entered the cave first, looking around for enemies, and then motioned for Blaze to follow. She did so, igniting the tip of her wing to light the way forward.

Once inside the cave, Blaze could hear the faint sound of running water. The path ahead was thin and bordered by stalagmites and flowstone formations, hinting that the cave had at one time been a riverbed. That actually explained the odd structure of the path that had led them to this cave. However, it didn't explain why the river was no longer running. Blaze didn't really understand much about geology, so she decided that her attention would be better applied to the path ahead.

Hector and Blaze soon found the path opening out into a series of interconnected caverns. The floor of the cavern was pockmarked in certain areas by hundreds of years of dripping water. An imperfect circle of stalagmites and stalactites surrounded these areas.

"Beautiful," Blaze whispered, gazing at the natural formations in awe. If only she had come here under different circumstances. Then she could have taken the time to enjoy the sights. However, Hector was already far ahead of her, and she rushed to catch up with him. "Wait for me!"

When Blaze entered the next cavern, she noticed a strange boulder on the ceiling just to her left. She tilted her head to one side, gazing at it in curiosity. Her eyes widened when the boulder dropped down from the ceiling and halted a few feet above the ground, levitating there. When two eyes opened on the boulder, Blaze knew what it was.

"Hector, to your left!" she called out immediately, noticing two arms extend from either end of the boulder. Hector turned on the spot, bringing up his arms and crossing them in front of him. Just after he brought up his guard, a powerful rocky fist slammed into his crossed arms, pushing him back a few feet.

"Geodude. Lovely," Hector remarked, and then ducked under the hostile Pokémon's next punch. Then, he reached up and grabbed the geodude's outstretched arm and tugged, swinging the Pokémon around and throwing it towards the other side of the cavern.

Instead of hitting the wall, the geodude stopped in midair, and then dove to the ground to avoid a stream of water from Hector. When the Pokémon aimed to strike Hector again, Blaze spat flame at it, only for the geodude to deflect the attack with its fist. Blaze remembered that the Pokémon was rock-type, and thus fire wouldn't do much of anything against it.

The geodude soared through the air at Hector, and then unleashed a vicious punch with its right arm. Hector blocked the punch by bending his arm at the elbo wand catching the first on his geodude wasn't finished, however, and then followed up its first attack with a series of punches. Hector was driven back under the onslaught, blocking the punches with difficulty.

When Hector opened his jaws to release another stream of water, the geodude shoved a rock between his jaws, blocking off any water attacks. Hector hacked and coughed, but the rock was lodged there firmly, and would take effort to remove. The geodude wasted no time in pushing its advantage. It slammed a fist into Hector's middle, winding him and slamming him into the wall.

Blaze realized that she had to act. Even though her flames wouldn't do much, she needed to buy time for Hector to get that rock out of his mouth, so he could finish the troublesome geodude off. With that in mind, she charged forward.

Just as the geodude was about to punch Hector again, Blaze launched herself off of the ground and rammed her shoulder into the geodude. Her momentum knocked the Pokémon away from Hector, though it didn't do any damage whatsoever.

Hector immediately seized the moment to regain his breath and attempt to remove the rock from his jaws. The geodude was furious at being distracted, and swung wildly at Blaze. Blaze wasn't as agile as Hector, so the first punch smashed into her shoulder, knocking her back and causing her to cry out. The second punch slammed into her beak, snapping her head to the side. The third sent her flying backwards into the wall. She rebounded off the rocky surface and landed flat on her stomach, squeaking in pain.

Blaze turned her head slowly to look at Hector, who was still having trouble with the rock. That meant she still needed to distract the geodude. Though it hurt, she hoisted herself to her feet, only to duck down underneath another vicious punch from the geodude. She immediately rolled to the side when the Pokémon slammed its body down towards her. Narrowly avoiding being crushed, she leapt to her feet. She was facing away from the geodude. Blaze suddenly had an idea when she noticed how brittle the ground was under her feet.

Using her talons, she dug into the ground and then kicked backwards, sending a shower of rocks and dust towards the geodude. The hostile Pokémon was taken by surprise, and some of the dust got into its eyes. The geodude growled and backed away. Its hands went to its eyes, trying to dislodge the dust.

That gave Blaze some time. She ran over to Hector, who was still having difficulty, and pecked the rock in his mouth hard. A small chip of rock flaked off, but with repeated pecks, cracks appeared. At last, the rock was weak enough for Hector to shatter it with his jaws. The Totodile snarled and spat fragments of rock to the ground.

"Oh, you're about to get it," Hector growled dangerously, glaring at the geodude that was still trying to clear its vision. The Totodile opened his jaws and spat forth a potent stream of water. As Blaze watched, the stream flew across the room and smashed into the geodude, gouging into its body. The Pokémon let out a flanged roar and attempted to flee through the nearest tunnel. However, Hector continued his water assault. Thus the geodude did not get away unscathed. By the time it reached the tunnel, it had lost an arm to the pressurized water.

Blaze expected Hector to go charging into the tunnel after the geodude, but instead he remained next to her, picking out bits of rock from between his teeth. "That was a dirty trick. Literally," Hector remarked. Blaze would have chuckled, but she was trying to calm herself down. She was still freaked out from the fight, as she had never fought like that before. Actually, if she thought about it, Blaze had to admit that it hadn't really been a fight for her. She hadn't fought back all that much, and had simply taken the hits for Hector's sake.

Blaze winced as she inspected her injuries. She was already forming bruises from geodude's attacks, and her back was aching from her collision with the wall. She retrieved the bottle of ointment from her bag.

"That was a brave thing you did," Hector commented, gazing at her. "I'm impressed."

"What? No…I was terrified. I couldn't even fight back," Blaze protested. She dabbed some of the ointment on each of her bruises to deaden the pain, and then drank one drop to deal with any possible internal injuries.

"If it wasn't for you, I'd be in a much worse position to deal with any future threats," Hector explained. "That geodude took me by surprise, and would have dealt a lot more damage if you hadn't stopped it. Good job." Blaze grew embarrassed from his praise, shuffling her talons on the ground.

"But…it wasn't really that much…"

"Just take the compliment," Hector insisted, and then ruffled the feathers on top of her head good-naturedly. Blaze immediately blushed, unused to such affectionate gestures. "Now come on, we need to hurry. That geodude was a delay we could scarcely afford."

"Right," Blaze responded, following Hector as he walked through the cavern and into the adjoining one. Passing through it uneventfully, they then entered a tunnel. Blaze ignited her wing feathers again, lighting up the way forward.

As they walked through the tunnels, Blaze could tell that they were rising in elevation. Most of the inclines they traversed were uphill, and more than once they found a part of the mystery dungeon that was temporally stable because it exited out onto a small ledge outside the cave. Going by Blaze's earlier theory, these areas were temporally stable because they could be seen from a distance. Fortunately, when returning to the dungeon, it hadn't changed its layout.

The more troubling details that Blaze noticed were the signs of a large predator in the cave. Every so often, they would find a pile of bones discarded on the ground, picked clean of flesh. Also, Blaze could see large gouge marks in the walls at regular intervals, arranged in groups of three. Her sense of dread was growing by the minute.

As for hostile Pokémon, they hadn't met much of a challenge. There were several starly that had attempted to attack them, but when it was made clear that they were no match, they generally fled into the darkness. Hector would never follow them. Blaze reasoned that he realized that he would only get lost without her light.

Another time, a machop engaged Hector in a vicious fistfight. Although the machop had been stronger stronger, Hector was faster and more skilled. The fight ended when Hector knocked it out with a quick chop to the back of its neck. Blaze noticed that now he wasn't being as brutal as he had been in the Drenched Bluff, leaving most of his victims battered, but alive. Sometimes he couldn't help it, such as when another geodude attacked and there was no other way to stop it than to slice it in half with a pressurized water gun. Blaze recognized that he was trying to be respectful to her wishes. She smiled. Maybe he wouldn't admit it, but he cared more for her feelings than he let on.

* * *

Blaze took another step after exiting another small cavern and found that the texture of the ground suddenly changed. Instead of being dusty and hard, the ground now felt soft and sticky. She looked down curiously, and then shuddered at what she saw.

She was stepping on cobwebs that were stretched across the ground. Looking forward, Blaze could see that the walls and ceiling of the entire tunnel ahead was coated with a thick layer of webbing as well. She even saw dead starly covered in webbing and hanging from the ceiling. Bile rose in her throat at the sight, and she had to struggle not to vomit.

"There's no other way forward, Blaze. Don't worry, I'm right behind you," Hector assured her. Blaze smiled at him for his consideration, but the smile soon died as she began moving forward. The web stuck to her talons as she walked. It slowed her progress, as she had to use more effort than normal to keep moving forward.

A crash resounded throughout the tunnel. This was followed by a high-pitched squeak. Blaze and Hector froze instantly. Now they heard heavy footsteps nearing their position. Blaze could swear she heard the sound of metal each time the unknown entity took a step. She extinguished her wing to hide themselves, plunging them into complete darkness.

Hector turned to the nearest wall and tore through the webbing until he uncovered the rock.

"Quick, hide!" Hector whispered urgently. Blaze nodded, and she pressed herself against the wall. It was still a bit sticky from bits of web left behind, but at least she wouldn't get tangled in it. Hector did the same, after feeling around with his claws to find a suitable spot.

They were just in time. Although they couldn't see anything at all, Blaze could hear the footsteps reach their position. She could hear whatever it was breathing heavily. Then, a crunching sound, and another high-pitched squeal. Blaze was sweating profusely now, shivering in terror at the unseen threat. She wanted to cry out, but that would doom them for sure. She could only hope that whatever it was wouldn't hear her breathing.

"Damn spinarak. How many of them do I have to kill before they stop spinning webs in MY tunnels!" a male voice roared in anger. It was a gravely voice, with a clear bass tambour. It was also somewhat flanged.

Blaze then heard a scuttling sound, followed by the unseen entity growling in frustration. Then there was the distinct sound of an impact and then another squeal.

"Fine, you asked for it. I'm having spinarak for dinner!" the beast snapped. Then Blaze could hear the beast walking away slowly, until she could no longer hear his footsteps.

After a few moments, she felt Hector shift beside her. "Light," he whispered. Blaze obliged, lighting up the cave with fire again. Hector stepped away from the wall and viewed the clearing ahead, where the beast had been. The broken and crushed bodies of several spinarak were scattered throughout the clearing, victims of the unknown entity.

"What the hell was that?" Hector hissed in surprise. Blaze was about to answer when she noticed a live spinarak lowering down from the ceiling to a position just behind Hector, its poisonous fangs poised to strike.

"Hector!" Blaze warned him immediately. Hector noted the urgency in her voice and instinctively thrust his fist backwards. His attack landed, and the spinarak was sent flying backwards.

"Thanks, Blaze. I think we'll need to be…" he began, but then stopped short. Blaze was about to ask when he held up a hand, motioning for her to be silent. She shut her beak, confused, and then she heard what Hector was worried about.

She could hear a faint scuttling sound emanating from the tunnel, seemingly coming from where they had been just a few minutes ago. It gradually got louder, and suddenly she had a horrible realization. The spinarak were going to swarm.

From hidden holes in the walls, several spinarak lunged at them with the intent to kill. Hector reacted, grabbing one by the legs and throwing it into another. Blaze saved herself from being bitten by blasting fire into another spinarak, burning it to a crisp.

Blaze ducked under another and then stopped dead. She could see hundreds of spinarak swarming from the tunnel, the scuttling almost deafening now. Hector noticed it too, and released a powerful stream of water from his jaws. He swept it through the incoming spinarak, wiping several out. For each spinarak he defeated, however, ten more took its place. Blaze tried to help with her fire, but she realized that there were simply too many. She and Hector looked at one another with sudden understanding.

"Run!" Hector shouted, turning the other direction and sprinting down the tunnel away from the oncoming swarm. Blaze didn't have to be told twice. She dashed down the tunnel away from the swarm. The webbing on the ground slowed her down, and she knew that unless they found a solution quick, the spinarak would overtake and kill them with their poisonous fangs.

Blaze could run much faster than Hector, so she turned her head and started blasting fire at the swarm to slow them down. She had to run slower in order to aim, but she was now running at Hector's speed.

She was worried. They had no idea where they were going. For all she knew, they were going to find a dead end and be overwhelmed. Her chest heaved with the effort, and she was quickly growing hungry from repeatedly using her fire.

Blaze turned her head again to fire another blast. Before she could fire, she slammed into something hard that gave way under her weight, and she went tumbling to the ground. She immediately began to gasp in terror as she felt the webbing on the floor sticking to her feathers. She struggled to rise, but doing so only entangled her further.

She squealed loudly when she felt a spinarak land on her back. It was just starting to spin a web when it was knocked off of her by a powerful kick from Hector. The Totodile grabbed the feathers on top of her head and yanked hard. Blaze cried out, feeling the webbing on her chest tugging her down. Finally, she was ripped free, and Hector released her. She didn't have time to thank him, as that little mistake cost them precious time, and the swarm was drawing closer.

Blaze moved past the hanging starly that had knocked her down and sprinted alongside Hector. They ran for a few more seconds until the seemingly endless tunnel opened out into a rather large cavern.

The cavern was extensive, sprawling out into the distance wherever they looked. A veritable maze of stalagmites and flowstone formations covered the ground, unbroken save for a rushing river that surged through the cavern to destinations unknown. Finally, there was a hole in the ceiling that let in sunlight, the rays falling down somewhere further into the cavern.

Blaze led Hector into the maze, hoping to lose the swarm in the cavern. In a stroke of sudden genius, Hector used his water gun to shatter several of the stalagmites in such a way that the fragments blocked the passage. It slowed the swarm down, but it wasn't long before they were climbing over the obstacle.

After a few seconds of running aimlessly through the maze, they reached a clearing, in which another Pokémon was in the same predicament as them. Blaze saw a colossal Pokémon fighting off another swarm of spinarak, although it wasn't as large as the one they were running from.

Blaze almost couldn't believe her eyes. The black Pokémon was massive, and stood on its hind legs like them. Its most defining features were the plates of gray-silver armor covering its head, neck, and face, giving it a monstrous visage. Piercing blue eyes flashed in the dim light, gazing at its foes with a mixture of delight and worry. For offense, it had three long claws on each hand and foot, as well as two horns on its head.

"Raaaagh!" the Pokémon roared, and Blaze recognized it as the voice from the darkness earlier. He swung his tail through the swarm of spinarak, knocking several of them away. Then, he followed up by charging straight into the middle of them, sending many of them flying into the air and skewering others on his horns. All the while, he used his claws to rip other spinarak to shreds. He was a sight to behold, but it was clear that he was being overwhelmed.

Blaze identified the Pokémon as a rare aggron. As Blaze watched, the spinarak began climbing up his legs and over his torso, sinking their fangs into his body. Unless she acted quickly, the mighty Pokémon would die from the poison. The swarm he was fighting was now small enough for Hector and Blaze to wipe out if they acted quickly.

"Hector!" Blaze called, and then shot a blast of fire at the swarm in front of her, scorching them and giving the aggron some breathing room. Hector wordlessly followed her lead, shooting a precise water gun at the spinarak on the larger Pokémon's body, knocking them away without harming the aggron. The large Pokémon then noticed their presence. He growled dangerously, but didn't attack them, instead shifting to give them room to fight.

"Watch out, we've got a lot more coming from behind!" Hector called to the aggron, even as the Totodile launched himself into combat. He slammed his fist into a spinarak, crushing it, and then ducked underneath another that was lunging at him.

"Good!" the aggron shouted back, a wicked grin crossing his face. He slammed his huge fist into the ground, smashing any spinarak that had been trying to climb his feet. Blaze was the next to enter the battlefield, staying between Hector and the aggron. She was scared out of her mind, but her fight or flight instinct had kicked in, and thus she did not hesitate to fight. She lashed out with her talons, cutting a spinarak in two. Blaze saw a clump of spinarak approaching the aggron, so she released a wave of flame over them.

At last, the three had vanquished the smaller swarm. However, it wasn't over yet. The larger swarm was approaching them fast, and they were all tired and hungry. The aggron was slumped over, the many wounds inflicted upon him taking their toll.

"Here, take this. It's an ointment distilled from oran berries, and will help with healing." Blaze offered a bottle filled with light blue liquid to the aggron. The larger Pokémon eyed it suspiciously, but it took it and dabbed some of the liquid over each of his wounds. After a moment of this treatment, he stood up straight, his vitality returning. "I'm Blaze. I'd say more, but we don't have time."

"I don't care who you are. You're on my territory, and under normal circumstances I would be crushing you and eating you for dinner," the aggron growled angrily. Blaze shuddered at the threat. With jaws that large, he could easily follow through. "But I'll make an exception for the time being."

"Here they come!" Hector alerted them, taking a stance once more. The larger swarm of spinarak came scuttling through where Hector and Blaze had exited the maze. Like he had before, Hector used his water gun to collapse the exit, crushing any spinarak under the falling stone and blocking the passage. Also like before, it did not stop them for long. The spinarak climbed over the rubble and streamed across the floor like water.

Hector and Blaze, although they were growing too hungry to use their elemental abilities for much longer, immediately began a dual elemental assault, bombarding the spinarak with water and fire. The aggron helped by breaking off a stalagmite from the ground and hurling it with great force into the swarm.

"They're too close! We should run!" Hector advised, now that the swarm had nearly reached them. Blaze was about to agree when the aggron scoffed.

"Me? Run? I OWN this mountain! I'm not going to give it up to a bunch of damn spiders!" Before anyone could stop him, the aggron let out a loud roar. "My name is Colossus, and I will be the last thing you see!"

Colossus lowered his head and charged, sweeping his horns about. He collided with the oncoming swarm, throwing spinarak everywhere. Blaze and Hector glanced at one another, and then back at the swarm. If they wanted their newfound ally to survive, then they would need to act fast.

"I've got an idea," Hector said suddenly. He didn't wait for Blaze to reply, instead pointing up at the ceiling. She saw several large stalactites hanging there, each possessing lethal points. She understood his intentions immediately.

"Do it. I'll focus on the spinarak," Blaze responded. She took a deep breath. Hector nodded and used the rest of his energy to send a cutting water gun towards the hanging stalactites. The second the water struck the first stalactite, it fell from its position and down onto the swarm, shattering into pieces and killing many of the spinarak. Then, several more stalactites began to fall.

"Colossus! Move!" Hector roared when he finished cutting the last stalactite. The aggron looked up and saw the incoming stalactites, and then he immediately turned and stomped the other way, narrowly avoiding the lethal spikes. The stalactites crashed into the ground one after another, slamming into the spinarak and kicking up clouds of dust.

Blaze accidentally inhaled some of the dust, making her cough repeatedly until the offending particles had been expelled from her windpipe. In the confusion she didn't have any clue as to what was going on. She couldn't hear the scuttling of the spinarak over the sound of the settling rock and dust, although she didn't know whether that was a good thing.

When the dust settled, Blaze opened her eyes to see that the way back had been completely blocked off by a mountain of rubble. She couldn't see any live spinarak, no matter where she looked. It seemed as if Hector's plan had worked.

Hector was standing next to Colossus, panting hard. The aggron was covered in more bite marks, which meant that Blaze needed to give him some more of the oran ointment to counteract any infection that may have set in.

"Here. I'm sure that some of the spinarak must have bitten you." Blaze offered the bottle of ointment to Colossus. The larger Pokémon grunted and took it.

"That takes care of that. Blaze, could you fish out some gummis for me? I think I've used enough water today to fill a lake," Hector asked, looking tried. Blaze nodded, reaching into her bag and grabbing a handful of gummis. She needed some too, as her stomach was beginning to growl.

"Hey. You two. Come with me. Now," Colossus growled all of a sudden. Blaze looked up at the Pokémon in fear. Was he going to turn on them now, even after they helped him out?

The aggron turned and stomped towards the exit of the cavern, which to Blaze's surprise led outside of the mystery dungeon and onto a small plateau. She sighed and followed Colossus, with Hector just behind her. On the way, she passed three blue gummis to Hector, and kept three red gummies for herself. She bit into one, sighing contentedly as she felt the spicy taste fill her mouth. They really shouldn't have been forced to use so much power before even finding Drowzee.

"Hector, we need to hurry," Blaze reminded her partner. The totodile's ears twitched, but he remained silent.

Colossus led them out onto the plateau. Although it wasn't the mountain's summit, it seemed that they were close to it. Here, Blaze could tell that it was where Colossus lived. On one edge of the plateau, the ground dropped off to what was probably over a thousand-meter drop. The mystery dungeon must have taken them higher than she thought, judging by the view. She could even see Treasure Town from all the way up here.

On the other side of the plateau was a deep alcove in the side of the cliff, which seemed to be Colossus's living area. A fire pit was dug into the center of the alcove, with fresh firewood already in it. A large pile of hay was at the very back of the alcove, right next to a spring of fresh water. Several wooden structures that were haphazardly made decorated the alcove. Blaze could see a desk and a chair as well, though it amused her how large the chair was. After all, an aggron was not a small Pokémon. Colossus was easily three or four times her size. She felt like nothing when standing next to him.

"There are some chairs. Sit in them," Colossus demanded, pointing at the structures in question. Blaze did so, hopping up on the nearest chair. She hoped that this wouldn't take long, as they had more pressing concerns to deal with. Hector hesitated to follow her example, probably for the same reason Blaze had in mind. "I said SIT THE HELL DOWN!"

Hector finally acquiesced, surprised by Colossus's sudden yell. The aggron grunted in satisfaction. Then, he picked up a nearby rock and struck it with his claws. Nothing happened at first, but after two more strikes a spark was produced. The spark landed in the fire pit and ignited the firewood, starting a small fire. Colossus sighed and blew on the fire until it was roaring heartily. The sudden heat felt really good to Blaze.

"Though I hate to admit it, you did save me back there. Because of that, I'm at least willing to hear your explanation for being on my territory before I toss you down the side of the mountain," Colossus growled. Blaze shivered; the aggron could easily carry out his threat if he so chose.

"I'm Blaze, and this is Hector," Blaze spoke up timidly. "I'm sorry for intruding, but we didn't know that this was your territory."

"That's no excuse," Colossus grumbled, but allowed her to continue.

"Can we make this quick? We're pressed for time," Hector cut across Blaze. The torchic froze at Hector's tone. She hoped that Colossus wouldn't take offense. The aggron growled softly, turning his icy gaze onto the Totodile.

"And what objective is so important that you would risk death to complete it?" Colossus asked, sounding somewhat irritated at the way Hector had spoken to him.

"You know, for such a territorial Pokémon, you're not doing a very good job of keeping intruders out," Hector shot back, a grin on his face. The aggron's eyes narrowed dangerously. Blaze hissed at Hector in warning. If he kept needling the aggron, things would not end well at all for them.

"You have about five seconds to rephrase that," Colossus stated flatly, his hands curling into fists.

"We're chasing a criminal that has kidnapped a friend of ours and is taking refuge somewhere on this mountain. We believe he's a bit further up from here," Hector explained. "My point was that you didn't notice when he got here."

Colossus remained silent for a few moments. Blaze began getting nervous, and she started casting her gaze around. She needed to find escape routes should the aggron lose his temper. That turned out to be unnecessary when Colossus started chuckling.

"For such a small thing, you certainly have guts. The last Pokémon to talk to me like that didn't walk away from here in one piece," the aggron commented. "You're lucky I owe you. Now, I guess you need to be going."

"What? Just like that? We can go?" Blaze asked incredulously, hardly daring to believe that the aggron was just going to let them go.

"Not so fast. I'll be watching you two. If you go anywhere other than where you said, you're dead," Colossus snapped. "Now, I'll be following from a distance. I want to see this criminal of yours. At the very least, the two of you will show me a good fight."

Blaze suddenly realized that she and Hector were very lucky. She reasoned that the only reason Colossus had let them leave was because Hector had mentioned Drowzee. Colossus seemed to be the kind of Pokémon that enjoyed fighting, and as such had become curious as to how the upcoming fight would pan out. Blaze hoped that Drowzee would give up without a fight, but she knew that was unlikely.

There was another entrance to the mystery dungeon not far from Colossus's home. Blaze was worried about what they would find inside, but the aggron assured them that it was much smaller than the last, and would probably only take them five minutes at the latest to traverse it.

Hector and Blaze entered the cave again, ready to fight again. Thanks to a leisurely meal of gummis, Blaze felt full of energy, and her wounds were nearly gone. Her supply of ointments, however, was running out as well. Blaze knew that she would need to gather some Oran and Pecha berries the next time she had a free moment.

Like Colossus had predicted, the exit to the cave was easily found. Blaze walked out of the cave, followed by Hector. They were finally at the very top of the mountain, which consisted of a mostly flat, open area surrounded by jagged rocks. A thin layer of snow covered all of the above. Blaze shivered at the sudden temperature drop, but it didn't really bother her. Her inner body heat made the cold pretty much irrelevant. Hector didn't seem to be overly cold either.

However, what really drew her attention were the two Pokémon standing on the far edge of the area.

Colossus grumbled to himself quietly, putting out the fire he had just started. After five minutes had passed, the aggron stood up and stomped over to the cave entrance. However, instead of going inside, Colossus was tall enough to grasp the rock atop the entrance and pull himself up. He would climb up to the top, rather than going through the cave.

"They had better be fighting by the time I get there. Or I'll eat them all," Colossus muttered irritably.

Once the massive Pokémon had disappeared from view, silence fell upon the clearing. Then, two points of light appeared from the wall next to the exit of the first half of the mystery dungeon. A ghost-type Pokémon emerged from the rocky cliff, casting its gaze over the clearing.

"Things are worse than I'd hoped," Shuppet observed. The Pokémon floated to the center of the clearing, and then made a strange screeching sound from the tip of its head.

With a scratchy caw, Murkrow descended upon the clearing from the air, where she had been circling the mountain. She landed gracefully, her talons digging into the rock.

"What's the situation? Have you spotted Team Phoenix?" the bird asked worriedly. Shuppet shook his head.

"Not quite. Instead, I spotted the aggron. He seems to know that Team Phoenix is here, and is heading towards them as we speak," Shuppet explained. Murkrow flapped her wings worriedly.

"We need to do something. Distract the aggron, maybe?" Murkrow suggested. Shuppet seemed taken aback by the suggestion, and shook his head furiously.

"No way. That would never work. Last time I fought that aggron, he destroyed me. Even my strongest attacks barely scratched him," the ghost lamented. "No, we would be better off moving past him and taking down Team Phoenix's target ourselves. C-Rank is easy compared to our usual B-rank missions."

"Then I can grab one of them while you teleport the other away, right?" Murkrow asked. Shuppet nodded grimly. "Then I guess we need to hurry. Aggron is getting too close."

"Agreed. Let's split up, like before. I'll head directly to them, and you'll be my eyes," Shuppet commanded. Murkrow flapped her wings once and then took to the air, soon becoming nothing more than a speck in the sky. Shuppet watched her go for a moment, and then he dived into the nearest wall, disappearing from view.

Drowzee watched with an unreadable expression as Azurill bounced happily around the clearing. The small Pokémon was excited to finally find the item his family lost. He was completely clueless of Drowzee's true intent.

"We're here, Azurill," Drowzee informed the smaller Pokémon. Azurill stopped bouncing and gazed curiously at Drowzee.

"Really? But there's nothing here. Didn't you say our lost item was around here?" Azurill asked in confusion. Drowzee sighed and shook his head.

"Your item is not here, kid. In fact, I have no idea where it is," the Pokémon confessed, a grin crossing his face. Azurill emitted a confused sound, tilting his head to one side. Then the younger Pokémon realized that his brother was nowhere to be seen.

"Marill…Drowzee, where's my brother? He's coming soon, right?" he asked pitifully, suddenly beginning to tremble. Drowzee laughed harshly.

"I'm afraid not. I took care of him before we even entered the mountain," Drowzee snapped. Azurill's eyes widened at the revelation. "Let me fill you in on a little secret. You followed me right into a trap. Here, you are completely at my mercy."

"W-what? But…my brother…?" the young Pokémon stammered in fright.

"Forget about that brat. Instead, there's something I need you to do for me. Turn around," Drowzee commanded. Azurill did so, beginning to cry. Behind him was a large rock formation that protruded from the ground. At the very bottom was a small hole. "You see that hole? Through it is an ancient thief treasure that was stashed away hundreds of years ago. I can't get through it because of my size, but you can. If you go through that hole and bring the treasure back, I'll consider letting you go."

"I…I…" Azurill continued to stammer. The young Pokémon's cries grew louder, and then without warning, he dashed around Drowzee and ran towards the exit of the clearing. "I want my brother!"

Drowzee sighed, and then turned on his heel and thrust his palm out. He started to glow, and the air seemed to dilate around him. The same thing happened to Azurill, and suddenly the smaller Pokémon found himself unable to move. "Hey! None of that, now." Drowzee shot his palm back towards the hole, and the psychic force that held Azurill lifted him off the ground and hurled him into the rock wall. Azurill cried out in pain and hit the ground. "Hurry and go, you stubborn creature! If you don't get that treasure soon, that aggron is going to get here, and we're all going to die!"

Azurill didn't move, instead continuing to sob at the hopelessness of his situation. Drowzee was quickly growing impatient. He used his psychic abilities to lift Azurill of the ground again and slam him into the wall. "If you don't stop being difficult, you'll never see your brother again!"

Drowzee was about to smash Azurill against the rocks again when he felt an impact in his side from something hard and sharp. Drowzee grunted in pain as he was sent tumbling to the ground.

"That'll be enough of that," Hector snarled, standing over Drowzee with his hands curled into fists. Drowzee was quick to retaliate, thrusting out his palm and shoving Hector backwards with sheer psychic force.

Hector was forced backwards. He hadn't expected Drowzee to be so proficient in psychic energy. His heels gouged into the rock as he tried to stay in one place, but even so he was pushed further and further back until Blaze stopped him from behind with her head.

"I didn't expect anyone to find this place," Drowzee admitted, standing up. The Pokémon looked down at his side and inspected the injury Hector inflicted on him. There were a few scratches from Hector's claws that were slightly bleeding, but it was nothing serious.

"Let Azurill go! I can't believe you'd hurt a child!" Blaze yelled at Drowzee. Azurill was too weak to move from the repeated impacts with the walls and ground.

"That aside, I suggest you tell me who you are. I'd rather know the names of those I'm about to throw down the mountain," Drowzee demanded, his grin turning malicious.

"We're Team Phoenix, an exploration team! No criminal gets away from us!" Blaze shot back, trying to sound a lot braver than she felt. Drowzee didn't seem that strong, seeing as Hector could injure him so easily.

"Really?" Drowzee seemed to grow pensive and grim. He clenched his fists, and wisps of purple energy began to swirl around his body. His eyes began to glow with that same energy. Blaze could feel some sort of pressure in the air from the sheet amount of psychic energy that was being emitted from the criminal. She began shaking in fear. She'd never dealt with anyone like this before. The only combat she'd seen with intelligent Pokémon had been Koffing and Zubat, and they hadn't been very strong. She hadn't even done any fighting then.

"Oh? You seem to be trembling," Drowzee noticed her fright. Blaze flapped her wings, anxious that her fear had been noticed. Suddenly the criminal began to laugh. "I see what's going on. You say you're an exploration team, but you're nothing more than rookies. You've probably never seen a real outlaw before."

Blaze looked down, knowing that he was right. She looked at Hector next, and noticed that the Totodile was emitting a low growl. Hector was getting angry.

"You're finished. I've faced some pretty strong exploration teams before, but never one as weak as you two," Drowzee asserted.

"That's enough. I'll thank you to fully analyze your opponents before forcing that generalization on me," Hector finally snapped. Drowzee glanced at the Totodile, perplexed.

"So you think you're tough, then? All right then, tough guy. Can you bring this outlaw to justice?" Drowzee responded readily. Then, the psychic aura around him erupted up into the air, the wisps of purple energy intertwining with one another in a web of light. "Or you will you perish in the attempt?"

"That remains to be seen!" Hector shot back, and then he planted his foot into the ground and propelled himself forward. Drowzee growled and did the same, using his psychic abilities to propel himself at Hector.

They collided. A wave of concussive force erupted in all directions sending rock and dust flying everywhere. Blaze could barely keep her footing. Shielding her eyes with her wing, she looked up to see Drowzee and Hector exchanging a series of furious punches, almost too fast for her eyes to follow.

Hector blocked Drowzee's fist with his arm, and then retaliated with a left hook. Drowzee caught it with his left hand, and kicked forward viciously. Hector removed his hand and leapt above the kick, lashing at Drowzee with one of his own. Drowzee bent over backwards to avoid it. Hector prepared to block a counterattack, but instead received a blast of psychic force to his torso. He was sent flying to the ground. He halted his momentum by sticking his claws in the rock.

Blaze realized that she should help out. Hector couldn't take someone like Drowzee on by himself. While Hector recovered, she dashed forward and spat a stream of fire at Drowzee. She didn't expect the criminal to stop her fire in midair with his psychic abilities. Drowzee grinned, and then redirected the fire at Hector, who was getting ready for another assault.

Hector saw the flame coming and doused it with a blast of water. Drowzee had been expecting this, because then he controlled the water and directed it at Blaze. Her eyes widened, realizing that Drowzee had planned this whole thing. He knew that fire wouldn't be effective against Hector, and that he would put it out with his water. Now if she was hit by Hector's water, she would likely be knocked out of the fight immediately.

Hector lunged towards Blaze and knocked her aside. She tumbled across the ground, accumulating scratches and bruises from the rough impact.

The water collided with Hector, but as it was his own, it did nothing to him. Hector glared at Drowzee, who looked rather impressed.

"Very impressive. I honestly thought that would have been the end of your companion," Drowzee commended Hector.

"Enough talking. Come at me!" Hector demanded. Drowzee smirked, and then held up his hand, his fingers stretching out. From his index finger, a thin beam of purple energy shot directly at Hector. The Totodile's eyes widened and he threw himself out of the way. The beam collided with the rock and exploded, sending dust into the air. That wasn't the end of it, however. More and more beams similar to the first emanated from each of Drowzee's fingers. The criminal laughed upon seeing Hector frantically running and dodging the multiple beams.

"What's the matter? I thought you were going to capture me? Save Azurill?" Drowzee taunted. With his other hand, Drowzee used his psychic abilities to lift a large boulder. Drowzee snarled, and then hurled it at Hector. The criminal, however, had not expected Hector to cleave the rock in half with his water gun, and then use the rubble as cover from his psybeams.

"You coward! Come fight me up front!" Hector roared angrily. Drowzee found that particularly funny.

"Are you insane? I could tell how strong you were in close combat. I'm not going to make the mistake of engaging you like that again," the criminal replied. Blaze had to admit that Drowzee's words were sensible. Hector's strength consisted of his hand-to-hand proficiency, or physical attacks. Blaze's abilities were mostly special based, or attacks that didn't require physical contact at all, like her flames.

Hector growled and tried to rush at Drowzee again, but it was ultimately in vain. Drowzee had realized that Hector was just going to try and get close, so he had taken steps to prevent that. With a wave of his yellowish arm, lumps of rock tore themselves from the ground and began to spiral around him at an incredible speed, posing a significant danger to anyone who tried to get close.

Hector skidded to a stop just outside the radius of the rock tornado. He was quickly growing frustrated, if the expression on his face was anything to go by. Drowzee smirked. "Can't get close? Why don't you try using your water gun on me? I'm sure it would be able to get through these rocks."

Hector didn't try to do so, to Blaze's relief. Drowzee was clearly trying to trick him into using his water so that he could take her out with it. Blaze cried out in frustration. What was she supposed to do in this situation? Her flames were useless, because he could just redirect them away. His psychic powers had to have some weakness.

Suddenly, Blaze had an idea. It was stupid, but it was the only way she could think of to discern the extent of Drowzee's powers. She sprinted out to Drowzee's side, screeching at the criminal to get his attention. When Drowzee turned his head, Blaze launched a fireball his direction. She watched the fireball carefully.

"You silly girl. Something like that will never hit me," Drowzee said knowingly, as if he were a teacher admonishing a student. Blaze ignored him, instead watching the fireball. It remained unaffected by Drowzee's powers until it entered the tornado of rocks. Only then did Drowzee grab it with his mental abilities and redirect it away, just as Blaze had expected.

Drowzee was only able to control things around in him in a certain radius, which seemed to be represented by the tornado of rocks. That was why her fireball had been allowed to travel towards him for so long. It was because it was out of his range until it had entered the tornado.

Blaze knew that she had to find out a way to get Drowzee to drop the tornado of rocks so that Hector could get close enough to land a hit. That being said, there was no way the criminal would be that foolish unless Blaze presented him with an opportunity that he couldn't ignore.

Hector was forced to leap backwards and dodge several more psybeams that Drowzee was lazily sending his way. The criminal looked bored. "Surely there's more to you than that, tough guy. I'm a little disappointed." Drowzee suddenly thrust his palm out, and Hector was rendered completely immobile by psychic force. Hector growled helplessly, but he couldn't move at all. Blaze noticed the tornado of rocks fall to the ground the second Drowzee redirected his psychic force. She suddenly realized how Drowzee's abilities worked. The only thing left for her to do was test that out. She opened her beak, a small orb of red flame forming there. It began to grow larger and brighter.

"Time to end this little game," Drowzee snarled, and then wrenched Hector off the ground and into the air. A second later, Hector was slammed into the ground at a high speed. The air whooshed out of his lungs, and he grunted in pain. Drowzee wasn't done, however, and continued to manipulate Hector through the air. He laughed maniacally as he repeatedly slammed the totodile into the walls and ground.

At last, Blaze finished charging up her attack. There was a massive ball of flames crackling in the air in front of her beak. It was incredibly powerful, as Blaze had put nearly all of her power into this single attack. If her calculations were correct, then this would deal significant damage to the criminal. Blaze's body trembled under the effort of controlling such power, so she was forced to aim carefully. Finally, she let it loose. The giant fireball zoomed through the air at a breakneck speed, heading directly for the unsuspecting Drowzee.

Drowzee grinned malevolently as he positioned Hector above a particularly sharp rock projection. If slammed against it with enough force, Hector would no doubt be impaled. Just as he was about to do so, the ball of fire slammed into him and exploded. The criminal screamed out in shock and pain, thrown completely off his feet by the force behind the attack. Flames scorched and burned his skin as he was sent tumbling across the rocky ground and into the cliffside.

Hector's eyes were wide as he found himself back on the ground. He stared incredulously at Blaze, who flushed under his gaze. "Holy hell, Blaze!" was all he could say.

"Hector, I found his weakness," Blaze informed him, beckoningly anxiously. Even now, Drowzee was getting up, his previously confident expression replaced by one of rage. The criminal had definitely taken a great deal of damage from Blaze's attack, but he wasn't down yet. Blaze doubted he would be so careless again.

"He can only control one area at once. He can either control the area around himself, or the area around a single exterior point. That's why my fireball was able to hit him while he was controlling you," Blaze hastily explained. Hector nodded. Blaze noticed that he was gazing at her in awe, mixed with a little bit of respect. She felt a little proud of herself, but she couldn't let that go to her head. Especially not with Drowzee heading their way. Blaze immediately separated herself from Hector so that Drowzee couldn't control them both at once.

"I underestimated you two, but no more. No one hurts me like this and lives to see another day!" Drowzee roared. With a grunt, he shot out his palm, controlling Hector once more. Seeing an opportunity, Blaze tried to summon up more flame, but found that the last attack had taken a lot from her, and as such she couldn't call up more than a few embers.

Blaze squawked in shock as Hector slammed into her, and both Pokémon were sent tumbling to the ground. Before they could recover, Blaze found that suddenly she couldn't move at all. She suddenly realized what had happened. Drowzee had deliberately thrown Hector into her so that he could immobilize the both of them at once. This was horrible! There was nothing she could do to stop Drowzee from completely destroying them now.

Drowzee grinned evilly, lifting a finger above his head with his free hand. A small pink orb appeared hovering in the air above the tip of his finger. Then, it doubled in size. It doubled again, bathing the entire clearing with an eerie pink light. The orb doubled in size one last time, so that it was practically the size of the entire clearing itself.

"I put the rest of my power in this attack. You'd better dodge it, or you might end up vaporized along with the rest of the mountaintop," Drowzee warned them. Then he laughed, suddenly realizing the error in his words. "Oh, I'm sorry. You can't move, can you? How incredibly unfortunate."

Drowzee moved his hand back. Blaze wanted to shut her eyes. She didn't want to see the pink orb heading for her, but she couldn't move a single muscle. She didn't want to die here. There were so many things that she still had left to do. She wanted to discover the secret behind her Relic Fragment. She wanted to help Hector find his lost memories. How could she have failed so miserably?

Then an enormous object crashing down from the single highest point on the mountain interrupted her inner panicking. Dust erupted from the point of impact, but when the object charged out of the dust with a loud roar, Blaze realized what it was.

Drowzee was about to hurl the orb down at Blaze when Colossus stampeded across the clearing and rammed his shoulder into the criminal. The sheer force behind the attack knocked Drowzee clear off of his feet, the psychic orb dissipating into the air. There was the sound of bones cracking, and Drowzee howled in pain.

"Goddammit! No! Why now?!" Drowzee cried out in horror. "I was so close! No, I won't give up here. Aggron, your reign of terror is over!"

With his one good arm, Drowzee sent a wave of psychic force at Colossus, immobilizing the massive Pokémon. However, this act freed Hector and Blaze. The members of Team Phoenix glanced at once another, determined now to end this fight.

"You're no fighter at all, scum. First you walk onto my territory like you own it, and then you don't even have the decency to show me a fair fight. Coward!" Colossus snapped angrily.

"What are you going to do about it? I don't think you can move," Drowzee taunted. "In fact, this territory is now m…" Drowzee stopped talking, his jaw open in shock as he saw a silver orb fading into existence just above the tip of Colossus's horn.

"You were saying? I think you'll change your tune when you taste my flash cannon," Colossus shot back, grinning viciously. Then, the silver orb shot forward and lengthened into a silver beam of light. Drowzee immediately tossed himself aside to avoid the blast, but by doing so put himself directly next to Hector.

"Surprise," Hector growled, and then unleashed a series of powerful punches into the criminal's middle. Then, he knocked Drowzee into the air with a swift uppercut.

The criminal tried to stabilize himself in midair with psychic power, but then realized with a gasp that he was all out of power. He had used it all in that one giant attack that he hadn't even been able to land.

Blaze appeared in the air just above Drowzee, her talons outstretched. She latched onto Drowzee's head with her talons. "Hyah!" she shrieked, and then hurled the criminal back down into the ground, cracking the stone on impact.

Drowzee groaned, lifting a hand, and then collapsed completely. Hector, Blaze, and Colossus watched him carefully for movement, and then relaxed when Drowzee didn't attempt to move again. The criminal was still alive, but he was unconscious. Blaze smiled happily and moved over to Azurill, who had been cowering in the hole that Drowzee had pointed out. "It's okay now, Azurill. The bad Pokémon can't hurt you now. You can come on out."

Azurill edged himself out of the hole and threw himself at Blaze, hugging her tightly around the middle. Blaze chuckled a little, and patted the child on the head to try and soothe his tears. "I was…so scared…where's my brother?"

"He's okay, Azurill. He's at the bottom of the mountain waiting for you. If you give us a moment, we'll take you to him," Blaze reassured him. Azurill sniffed, and then smiled happily.

"Thanks for the help, Colossus. We couldn't have done it without you," Hector thanked the massive aggron with a grin on his face. Colossus grunted and turned his head, clearly unused to being thanked.

"I only helped because that Pokémon wasn't fighting fair," Colossus grumbled. "You would have destroyed him in a full frontal assault."

"Are you admitting I'm strong?" Hector joked, prodding the aggron on his shoulder plate. The glare Colossus gave him only made the totodile laugh.

All of a sudden, there was the sound of flapping wings. All eyes went to the sky to see a bird-type Pokémon zooming towards them. Blaze recognized it as Murkrow from the square, the bird that had been obsessed with shiny objects. She was from Team Ebony, so what were they doing here?

"Team Phoenix, we are here to he…" Murkrow began after she landed. She immediately went silent when she saw the burnt and bleeding form of Drowzee lying in a small crater in the rock. She flapped her wings, flustered. "Shuppet. Shuppet! SHUUUUUUUPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEE….."

"WHAT?!" Shuppet emerged from the wall near the mystery dungeon, irritation stamped upon his ghostly face.

"Shuppet, look. Look, Shuppet! Shuppet Shuppet, look! Look look! Lo…" Murkrow began screeching nonsense and pointing at the downed criminal in shock.

"SHUT UP! God, you're such a child! What could be so…" Shuppet finally saw the downed form of Drowzee. "Mother of god. I thought you two were supposed to be rookies."

"Hah! If they're rookies, then that makes you official types look pretty terrible," Colossus jeered, more amused at Team Ebony's reaction than angry at their intrusion.

"AGGRON?!" Shuppet and Murkrow at last noticed the giant Pokémon's presence.

"Calm down, or I may change my mind about eating you alive. You're clearly with Hector and Blaze, so that's enough for me not to kill you," Colossus assured them. Blaze suddenly realized that Colossus must have liked what he'd seen of their fight, and as such they had earned his respect. What luck! Someone like Colossus would make a powerful ally for them.

"Okay…just wasn't expecting for you to not be hostile," Shuppet said hastily. Then, the ghost turned to his partner. "Murkrow, go and get Officer Magnezone. He'll want to come and collect Drowzee."

Murkrow nodded, and then took to the air, soon leaving them behind. Shuppet sighed, and then turned to Hector and Blaze. "I guess I won't be getting that reward. You two clearly didn't need our help, after all."

"What do you mean? What reward?" Blaze asked curiously. Shuppet laughed.

"Chatot sent us to bring you back because this job 'should' have been too much for you. Technically, we're still completing the job, but I wouldn't feel right accepting the reward for doing nothing," Shuppet explained. Blaze suddenly paled.

"Oh no…Hector, Chatot is probably furious with us!" Blaze gasped, turning to her friend. Hector shrugged.

"Let him. We might have tackled a job above our rank, but we completed it, so he has nothing to complain about," Hector replied nonchalantly. Even with that being said, Blaze felt uneasy about seeing Chatot again.

"Whatever. Once this Magnezone guy gets here, I want you all off my territory. Got it?" Colossus suddenly snapped. Blaze gulped and nodded.

Colossus then engaged in conversation with Hector and Shuppet, leaving Blaze alone with Azurill, who was standing at her side timidly. She gazed down at the child, meeting his gaze. When she got a bright smile from him, she mirrored the expression. She felt content. Thanks to Hector and his strange vision, they had saved a child from possible death. That grateful gaze that she was being given made her feel really good about herself. Once again, she found herself glad that she had joined the guild.

This sort of thing is what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.

* * *

All right, this damn chapter is finally finished. I kept hitting writer's block in the dungeon for some reason, but then I listened to Chasm Cave OST a few more times and I was ready to go again.

This is where all of the changes start to appear. All of those exploration teams that you see that have little to no role in the story? I've already started to fix that, as you've seen with the involvement of Team Ebony in here. I don't know about you, but I found myself enjoying their characters after writing that one humorous scene about the shiny objects in the previous chapter, so I thought I'd bring them back for this chapter. I keep cracking up whenever I write about Murkrow.

Another change is the addition of Colossus to the Mt. Bristle mission. I love Aggron, so the chance to include him in this story was too much to resist.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any reviews since my previous chapter, so once again I must go without shout outs. Hopefully that changes in the near future.

Keelash Se'lai,

The Proud Quarian,

Terran34


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